Loan Officer and Real Estate Agent Relationship: Is It Important?

Every loan officer understands the power of building and nurturing relationships with key professional partners, but is a real estate agent relationship really important for a loan officer? Real estate agents can be one of the most beneficial relationships for both the loan officer and the real estate agent. The industry knowledge that can be shared between these two professions not only benefits their professional success but also create a powerful partnership for homebuyers who can take advantage of this shared knowledge. But the best loan officer and real estate relationship requires time and effort in order to maximize and truly benefit from the relationship.

Key Takeaways

• Understand the benefits of creating and nurturing a strong business partnership with a real estate agent.
• Learn about the many benefits a loan officer and real estate agent partnership offers your business.
• Discover key dos and don’ts when it comes to building a successful partnership.

Can loan officers and real estate agents work together?

Loan officers and real estate agents make a powerful team when it comes to all areas of the home buying process. When you have a strong relationship with a real estate agent, you have a partnership that opens many doors when it comes to networking, marketing, educating, and gathering new homebuyer leads for both you and the real estate agent. Working together allows you to expand your reach and increase your exposure.

Networking

When you partner with a real estate agent, you grow your potential network. At networking events, such as Chamber of Commerce meetings or charity events, you are able to network as a team. By adding in other professionals, such as attorneys or contractors, you create a strong network of professionals that can help boost potential referrals and expand your reach. As you build a network, you gain exposure in your local community as well.

Marketing

Taking advantage of co-marketing opportunities with your real estate partner offers benefits for both of you. Working together, you can create co-branded marketing materials, such as open house flyers, social media posts or ads, and email marketing campaigns that allow you to reach potential new clients and contacts. Going one step further, consider sponsoring events for each other, such as open houses or educational seminars.

Educating

The home-buying process can be confusing, especially for a first-time home buyer. Real estate agents and loan officers work constantly to educate potential buyers on the ins and outs of the home-buying process. A partnership with a real estate agent opens up the doors to additional educational opportunities you have to offer borrowers. In addition, as a loan officer, you have a wealth of information that can be shared with your real estate agent partner’s contacts. Hosting networking seminars or educational classes together allows you to reach more potential contacts.

Referrals

When you build and nurture a strong relationship with a real estate agent and you successfully close deals together on a regular basis, you are both more likely to send clients each other’s way, helping to build a strong referral network.

How to build real estate agent relationships

Here you can clearly see the benefits of building and nurturing a professional relationship with a real estate agent. But where do you begin? Here we look at some of the dos and don’ts when it comes to building a solid real estate agent partnership.

Do's

1. Connect with your community

Being a visible member of your community allows you to be out in front of potential clients and partners, such as real estate professionals. Attending conferences and loan closings, for example, gives you the opportunity to engage with real estate agents and start the relationship-building process.

2. Share industry knowledge

Real estate agents are looking to partner with loan officers that have a vast knowledge of the industry and stay up to date on current news and the latest trends. Sharing your knowledge with your real estate agent and their clients provides value to the agent.

3. Be honest

A strong and successful partnership relies on trust and honesty between both parties. When building a relationship, make sure that everything you offer is something you are able to follow through on. Do not make promises that you are unable to keep. You are working on building trust, so you need to show them that you are trustworthy and reliable.

4. Be proactive and responsive

Communication is key when building and nurturing a relationship with a real estate agent. Connecting with your real estate partner a few times a week, whether through email or a phone call, can go a long way.

5. Add value to the relationship

A successful partnership benefits both parties in every way. A key component of a successful relationship is the value that each party brings, so adding value should always be the main goal when it comes to professional relationships. This added value can be anything from developing co-marketing social media or traditional campaigns to offering a seminar for your realtor’s clients that covers lending options for first-time homebuyers. Adding value such as this shows your professional partner that working together is beneficial for their business as well as yours. Keep in mind that you also want to find partners that bring value to your business.

6. Show gratitude

Be sure to show gratitude to your real estate partner every time they help you land a new client or close a deal. A simple “thank you” really goes a long way in maintaining a successful partnership.

Don’ts

1. Be pushy

Building a quality partnership takes time. Your initial goal is to build trust and credibility. If you immediately start by asking for referrals, you are likely to push away any potential partnerships. It is important that you take the time to gradually build a relationship that benefits both parties.

2. Do not waste their time

Everyone’s time is valuable and that includes your potential real estate partners. When making initial contact, such as at an open house, be upfront about who you are and why you are trying to connect.

3. Don’t be a ‘know-it-all’

While sharing your industry knowledge with professional partners and their contacts is a key benefit of a partnership, you don’t want to come across as a know-it-all. Sharing your industry knowledge in informational and helpful ways, such as when asked or during a seminar, is beneficial, but if you are always jumping in with information and statistics, for example, you come across as arrogant. This appearance of arrogance can hurt potential partnerships.

4. Do not make promises you are unable to keep

The key to a successful partnership is following through on your obligations. If you say you will do something, be sure to follow through and actually do it. Letting obligations go or failing to stick with the promises you make are likely to hurt an existing partnership, if not end it completely.

Nurturing a relationship with real estate agents

Strong relationships do not develop overnight, and it will take time to build and nurture a successful loan officer and real estate agent partnership. Following these dos and don’ts and taking advantage of what a strong partnership offers both parties can ultimately lead to success for your business.

Good Vibe Squad helps you find qualified leads

At Good Vibe Squad, we understand the importance of qualified leads for a loan officer, as well as for a real estate agent. Our Unfair Advantage™ program filters potential leads based on their likelihood of loan qualification, meaning the leads you receive from us are ready to find their dream home and close a deal.

To learn how we can help boost lead generation for your business and your real estate agent partners, book a strategy call today.

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Mortgage Acronyms You Should Know

As a loan officer in the mortgage industry, acronyms are a part of your everyday conversation with coworkers and industry professionals. While it is unlikely that your leads, clients, and even real estate partners will understand all the mortgage lingo, this mortgage acronym cheat sheet is a wonderful resource for not only new loan officers but also for your partners and clients.

24 mortgage acronyms every mortgage professional should know

An acronym is defined as an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of words and often pronounced as a word itself. As a loan officer, you use these acronyms every day, however, you must keep in mind that not everyone understands what these acronyms stand for and really mean. When working with borrowers, especially first-time borrowers, it is important that you use the actual words or explain what a specific acronym means.

Here we offer a comprehensive list and explanation of common acronyms in the mortgage industry.

APR

APR stands for the annual percentage rate. The annual percentage rate is the amount of yearly interest charged on a mortgage loan.

ARM

ARM stands for an adjustable-rate mortgage. With an ARM, the initial interest rate is typically lower, but the interest rate can change multiple times throughout the loan term. These changes are based on market conditions and can increase or decrease.

CD

CD stands for closing disclosure. A closing disclosure provides the loan terms, projected monthly payments, and the closing fees necessary to complete a mortgage.

DTI

DTI stands for debt-to-income ratio. To determine the DTI, you must add together a borrower’s monthly debt, including mortgage payments, and divide that by a borrower’s gross monthly income.

ECOA

ECOA stands for the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. This is a federal law that prevents lenders from discriminating against borrowers based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, or public assistance.

FHA

FHA stands for the Federal Housing Administration. This government agency backs specific mortgages provided through private lenders. FHA-insured loans offer protection to the lender should a borrower default on payments. This protection enables many lenders to offer mortgages to more potential home buyers.

FMV

FMV stands for fair market value. This number is the highest price that a buyer would be willing to pay and the lowest that a seller would be willing to accept on an individual property.

FRM

FRM stands for fixed rate mortgage. This type of mortgage loan has a fixed interest rate for the life of the loan. These loans are often for 15-to-30-year terms.

FICO

FICO stands for Fair Isaac Corporation, an analytics company that generates a three-digit number based on information gathered from a borrower’s credit report. This number helps an underwriter determine how likely a borrower is to repay a loan.

GFE

GFE stands for good faith estimate. This is a form provided by a lender to a borrower when they apply for a reverse mortgage. This form outlines the estimated costs and terms of the proposed reverse mortgage.

HELOC

HELOC stands for a home equity line of credit. This is a line of credit that is borrowed against the equity available in a borrower’s home. This loan allows the borrower to request funds as needed and repay those funds at a set repayment schedule.

HUD

HUD stands for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The purpose of HUD is to provide housing and community development assistance and to ensure that everyone has access to fair and equal housing. In addition, HUD oversees the FHA and the Fair Housing Act.

IO

IO stands for an interest-only mortgage. This type of mortgage allows the borrowers to make interest-only mortgage payments for the first few years of the loan, often averaging 5 to 10 years. At the end of the term, the borrower can choose to pay off the loan balance, refinance the mortgage, or begin with loan payments that include an amount towards the principal.

LOX

A LOX, also known as an LOE, stand for letters of explanation. A loan officer or an underwriter may request a LOX from a borrower in order to gain additional information or better explain information that may not be clear to the lender.

LTV

LTV stands for loan to value. This represents the amount of an outstanding loan to the appraised value or sales price. The LTV is given as a percentage number.

MIP

MIP stands for mortgage insurance premium. This is the amount that a borrower pays each month for mortgage insurance. This payment is given to either a government agency, such as FHA, or to a private mortgage insurance company.

P&I

P&I refers to both the principal and interest when it comes to a mortgage payment. This is the portion of your monthly payment that goes toward the interest and principal of the mortgage.

PITI

PITI stands for principal, interest, taxes, and insurance. These components make up a monthly mortgage loan payment.

PMI

PMI stands for private mortgage insurance. This insurance is often required by a lender when a borrower is financing more than 80% of the home value. PMI payments are included in the escrow portion of monthly mortgage payments and this insurance protects the lender from loss should a borrower default on a mortgage loan.

POC

POC stands for costs paid outside of closing. These are fees that are paid outside of the closing, such as appraisal fees, fees for credit reports, etc.

RESPA

RESPA stands for the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. This is a consumer protection law requiring mortgage lenders to provide borrowers with advanced notice of closing costs through a Good Faith Estimate.

TILA

TILA stands for the Truth in Lending Act, also known as Regulation Z. This requires a lender to provide borrowers with a disclosure that estimates the total cost of a mortgage loan, including finance charges and the annual percentage rate within three days of the application. This allows borrowers to shop for the best financing option among different lenders.

VA

VA stands for the Department of Veteran’s Affairs. VA loans are specific mortgage loans offered to veterans and are guaranteed by the government. These loans often require little to no down payment.

VOE

VOE stands for the verification of employment. A loan officer or underwriter will request verification of employment to ensure a borrower is able to cover the cost of a down payment and monthly mortgage payments.

Understanding mortgage acronyms for success

Understanding what these acronyms stand for allows you to better educate and explain terminology to your leads, clients, and professional partners. While some of the acronyms are understood outside of the mortgage industry, others are likely to confuse borrowers and require explanation.

Good Vibe Squad Helps You Gather Qualified Leads

At Good Vibe Squad, we understand the terminology in the mortgage industry, but we know that all your leads may not. We also understand how important a qualified lead is to successful loan officers. Our Unfair Advantage™ program helps weed out leads that are unlikely to qualify for a mortgage, leaving you with leads that are actively looking for a home and likely to be approved for a mortgage. To learn more about how we can help boost your monthly leads, book a strategy call today.

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Can a Loan Officer Influence Underwriter?

Loan officers and underwriters are both essential to the mortgage industry and the home-buying process. But can a loan officer influence the underwriting process? While both roles are essential to the home buying process, an underwriter must maintain an unbiased opinion when it comes to evaluating the risk potential of a loan. For this reason, the interaction between a loan officer and an underwriter is limited to a simple transfer of the borrower’s facts and data. A loan officer may not attempt to influence the underwriter.

Key Takeaways

• Better understand the differences between a loan officer and an underwriter and, while they work together, the loan officer should not influence the decision of the underwriter.
• Understand the key steps in the underwriting process and how an underwriter makes a loan determination.
• As a loan officer, there are ways you can help ensure that the loan applications you submit have all the necessary information the underwriter needs to approve the mortgage loan.

Loan officer vs underwriter

A loan officer and an underwriter are two different positions that play crucial roles in the loan process. Here we take a closer look at each role and exactly what their part is in the home buying process.

What do loan officers do?

A loan officer is the one that works directly with a borrower, connecting them with a lending institution for their mortgage. Loan officers meet with prospective borrowers, take applications, gather all the necessary documentation needed for loan processing, and work with the borrowers to ensure they have everything necessary to obtain loan approval. A loan officer is also a source of education for potential borrowers, helping them understand the loan process and what they need for loan approval.

What do underwriters do?

Once a loan officer receives an application and gathers the necessary documents, everything is passed to the underwriter. The job of the underwriter is to review all documentation and determine the risk level associated with the borrower. Oftentimes the underwriter will contact the loan officer if they need additional information from the borrower to make their determination. When determining the potential risk, an underwriter will look at things such as credit scores, LTV ratios, DTI ratios, and the value and type of property being purchased. In addition, an underwriter works with the appraiser to determine the actual value of the property which will be the collateral for the loan.

Do loan officers and underwriters work together?

Loan officers and underwriters do work together but from a distance. A loan officer works directly with the borrowers and provides the necessary information to the underwriter, who then evaluates the information. A loan officer must not attempt to influence the decision of the underwriter. As far as interaction, a loan officer provides the information and can ask questions about an approval or denial and an underwriter can provide an explanation about their loan decision, as well as provide educational information about the loan guidelines and what is required for loan approval.

What is mortgage underwriting?

Mortgage underwriting is a part of the home loan process where an underwriter evaluates the risk of approving a borrower for a mortgage. During this process, the underwriter looks for stable work history, the borrower’s ability to manage credit and repay the loan, whether the property’s value supports the loan amount, and the current market conditions, such as a stable economy and job market.

The mortgage underwriting process

The underwriting process varies from lender to lender, however, there are five main components to the underwriting process. Keep in mind that underwriting can be a long process but having the necessary documents ready and included can help speed up the process.

1. Pre-approval

In most cases, a borrower will begin the underwriting process with a pre-approval. With pre-approval, a borrower provides financial information, such as income, debts, and credit history. The lender evaluates this information and provides pre-approval for the amount of financing they qualify for. Keep in mind that this is not a guarantee for a mortgage and additional steps will be necessary to obtain a mortgage.

2. Income and asset verification

Income and asset verification occurs both during the preapproval process and the underwriting process once the borrower makes an offer on the home. When evaluating this information, the underwriter looks at documents such as tax returns, bank statements, investment accounts, employment history, and much more.

3. Appraisal

Once the borrower finds a home within their budget and makes an offer to the seller, the underwriter will conduct a property appraisal. The appraisal looks at the property condition and comparable homes in the area to determine whether the amount offered to the seller is appropriate. If the home is valued well under the sales price, the lender is unlikely to approve the mortgage.

4. Title search and insurance

A title company performs a title search on the property in order to ensure that there are no legal claims against the property by another person or lender. This can include liens, mortgages, easement rights, zoning ordinances, unpaid taxes, and more. Once the title company determines that the property is free from legal claims, a title insurance policy is issued in order to protect the lender.

5. Making a lending decision

Once all the information is gathered on the property and the borrower, the underwriter thoroughly reviews all the information to determine whether or not to approve the application for a mortgage. At this stage, the underwriter will approve, deny, or request additional information that is necessary to make a decision.

How loan officers can help aid the underwriting process

While a loan officer cannot influence an underwriter in any way during the underwriting process, there are some things a loan officer can do to help aid the underwriting process.

Writing cover letters

When submitting a loan application to the underwriter, you want to make sure that all the information you provide them is clear and easy to understand. Include a simple cover letter that summarizes the information included, explains anything that may appear unusual, or explain a borrower’s story. This will help provide information to the underwriter upfront and saves multiple questions that may require answers throughout the process.

Staying up-to-date on guidelines

As a loan officer, you must stay up to date on loan guidelines, such as document expiration dates. Gathering the necessary documents is essential for the underwriting process and it is important that, as a loan officer, you are submitting documents that meet specific guidelines. If submitted documents do not meet these guidelines, the underwriter will need to request additional information, prolonging the underwriting process.

Providing accurate information

Before submitting an application to the underwriters, loan officers must ensure they have the most accurate and complete information on the borrower. For example, if a borrower has listed additional income from self-employment, real estate income, child support, or alimony, you will need to include additional documentation when submitting a loan. Taking the time to gather and provide this information from the start helps expedite the underwriting process.

Loan officers and underwriters working together

While loan officers and underwriters each play an independent role in the home buying process, they must also work together to ensure that the necessary documentation is gathered to allow the underwriting process to move forward. A good underwriter will work to educate the loan officers on the documentation that is necessary for each possible scenario and, to expedite the process, the loan officer works to ensure this necessary documentation is gathered.

Good Vibe Squad Can Help You Find Qualified Buyers

At Good Vibe Squad, we understand how important leads are for a loan officer. But we also understand that not every lead is created equal. Our Unfair Advantage™ system implements filtration steps to weed out low-quality leads that won’t pass loan approval. Instead, our system delivers leads that are ready to purchase a home and very likely to qualify for a home mortgage. To learn more about how we can help boost your lead generation, book a strategy call today.

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8 Important Mortgage KPIs and How to Track Them

The mortgage industry is consistently changing and, to remain competitive, mortgage lenders must constantly adjust their marketing strategies in order to respond to the ever-changing interest rates and remain one step ahead of their competitors. One effective way to do this is by monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs). But what mortgage industry KPIs should you be monitoring and why? Here we take a closer look at some of the key KPIs you should be consistently monitoring to best adjust your strategies.

What are KPIs?

Key performance indicators, or KPIs, are defined as quantifiable measures used to evaluate the success or progress of an individual or business toward meeting key performance objectives or another end result. Tracking KPIs offers you insight into what strategic changes may be necessary in order to achieve your goals.

What are mortgage lending KPIs?

Mortgage KPIs measure the effectiveness and efficiency of your current loan process, including everything from initial contact to closing and beyond. Tracking KPIs allows you to see where your performance currently stands and how your business is trending, as well as provides insight into areas where you may need to implement change.

Why KPI tracking is important?

When your business performance is not achieving your desired goals, it can often be difficult to pinpoint exactly what isn’t working and why. Implementing clearly defined KPIs can provide critical information into the relationship between individual performance and the success of different aspects of the business.
For example, if lender performance has dropped from one quarter to the next despite loan application volume remaining consistent, what exactly is contributing to this drop in financial performance? By examining specific KPIs, such as abandoned loan applications and average cycle times, you will be able to see areas where an application processing delay is occurring.

Essential KPIs you should be tracking

To better determine which KPIs you should be tracking, it is essential to review your specific organization goals. Once you determine these goals, you can better identify which KPIs will help provide insight that will help you reach those established goals. Here we look at some of the key KPIs for the mortgage industry.

1. Pull-through rate

The pull-through rate KPI measures the efficiency of your pipeline. To calculate this metric, you divide your total funded loans by the number of applications submitted for the defined time period, such as monthly. This metric offers insight into the overall health of your operation, evaluating things such as your workflow efficiency, application quality, customer service, interest rate competitiveness, and how well your target market profile is actually working to achieve the results you are looking for. This specific KPI is not designed to single out a specific problem, but rather to evaluate your system as a whole and identify if there may be a potential problem.

2. Average cycle time

The average cycle time KPI is a fantastic metric for measuring your overall efficiency, with lower cycle times representing a more efficient process. To determine this metric, you divide the sum of days from application to funding on all loans by the number of total loans funded.

3. Average mortgage loan value

The average mortgage loan value KPI is a metric that provides information on loan profitability. In general, the workload required for a conforming conventional loan is not much different for a loan under $200,000 than it is for one over $500,000. However, the amount of revenue your company can generate from these two specific loans can be very different. To determine your average mortgage loan volume, you divide your total loan volume originated by the number of loans funded for the same period. The closer your average mortgage loan volume is to the conforming limit, the higher your profits are likely to be.

4. Application approval rate

The application approval rate KPI can provide valuable insight into two specific metrics: client acquisition and loan application workflow. When your application approval rate is low it can either mean you have a disruption in your workflow (problems with document gathering or a problem in the application review process) or you are not connecting with your ideal customer profile, but rather with unqualified applicants. To determine this KPI, you divide the number of approved applicants by the number of submitted applications.

5. Abandoned loan rate

The abandoned loan rate looks at those loans that receive approval but are never funded, often indicating potential post-application process problems. When a borrower applies for and is approved for a mortgage but never follows through, you have to question what is causing this. In many cases, this can indicate fluctuations in the interest rate competitiveness of your agency, problems with communication, or not following through with a client. To determine this KPI, you divide the number of approved applications not funded by the number of approved applications during the same time frame.

6. Customer acquisition cost

The customer acquisition cost KPI looks at how much it costs to acquire a customer in relation to their lifetime value to the company. To determine this metric, you divide your total cost of sales and marketing by the total number of new customers.

7. Cost per unit originated

The cost per unit originated KPI helps measure the efficiency of your business when it comes to operating expenses, cycle times, and your pull-through rates and how they are affecting your profitability. To determine this metric, you divide your total business expenses by the number of loans funded for the same period of time. Excess overhead expenses, such as salaries, can greatly affect your profit margin. Keeping your costs in line with your expected performance helps to ensure you maintain your desired profit.

8. Incomplete application rate

The incomplete application rate looks at loan applications that are closed for incompleteness. This can be due to several factors, such as an incomplete application or missing documents. When these occur, you have to ask yourself a number of questions. Are you targeting the right customer profile and is your target audience really in the position to close on a loan? Are you communicating the necessary steps and information needed to complete an application? To determine the KPI metric, you divide the number of applications closed for incompleteness by the number of applications received during the same time period.

Tracking KPIs provides valuable insight

Tracking the right KPIs can help you gain valuable insight into what is and is not working within your operation. Using these valuable tools can help you adjust your strategies to better boost lead generation, client acquisition, and your rate of loan closures.

At Good Vibe Squad, we understand the importance of understanding your client profile and generating leads that fit that profile. With KPIs, you can gain a better understanding of this client profile and tap into our Unfair Advantage™ program for a boost in your lead generation. To learn more about how the team at Good Vibe Squad can help improve your KPIs and lead generation, schedule a call today.

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Must-Have Loan Officer Marketing Tools

The mortgage industry is a highly competitive market and for loan officers to stay ahead of their competition, they must have the right mortgage marketing tools in place to maximize their exposure and market themselves effectively. But which loan officer tools are going to be your most effective? How can you boost your mortgage marketing to effectively keep new clients coming through your door?

The 4Ps of marketing

To better understand how and why specific marketing tools can really make a difference, it is important to take a step back to the basics and clearly understand the 4Ps of marketing: product, place, price, and promotion.

Product

Creating an effective marketing strategy begins with a comprehensive understanding of the products (loans) you offer. Who needs these loans and why? Do you offer a wide range of loans that will meet the needs of most potential buyers?

As a loan officer, loans are not your only product. You are also promoting yourself, so you must consider how you stand out above the competition. Why should a borrower choose you over your competition?

Place

Place refers to where a product is available. In the case of mortgage loans, where is a potential buyer looking for loan information? You must consider how you can make it easier for borrowers to find loan information specific to their needs and how they can easily connect with you and learn about your options.

Price

Price refers to the amount a borrower is willing to pay for a product. A savvy borrower is going to shop around for the best possible mortgage interest rates that lenders have available. How do your rates stack up against the competition? What added value do your services bring to the table?

Promotion

The goal of promotion is to develop a strategy that puts your product in front of consumers and shows them how they will benefit. How will you get borrowers to find you and choose you as their lender?

The 5 best marketing tools for loan officers

Once you have considered the 4Ps of marketing, it is time to build your marketing toolbox. These five marketing tools are essential to building a consistent stream of leads and boosting your overall sales.

1. Website

In today’s digital age, one of the most important marketing tools a mortgage loan officer can have is a business website. Creating a strong website establishes the foundation of your online presence and is at the core of all your online marketing efforts. Your website allows you to showcase your services, as well as allows you to showcase your knowledge and expertise through the publication of regular blog posts, videos, and much more. When creating a website or adding additional blog posts, it is always important to include direct calls to action (CTAs) to guide your visitors on how to connect, such as through contact forms.

2. Google Business Profile

Creating a free Google Business Profile helps to deliver your mortgage services directly to the top of any google search results looking for mortgage loans in your area. These unique listings allow you to showcase essential information about your business, as well as provide contact information and a local map of your location. Once you have created a profile, you can boost your profile by asking previous clients to leave reviews.

3. Social media presence

If you are not currently using social media to its full advantage, then your marketing toolbox is missing an essential tool. With just about everyone using one social media platform or another every day, social media as a marketing tool is becoming more and more essential. While Facebook is still one of the most widely used platforms, other important platforms you must consider include LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. By creating a business profile page on each of these, you can engage clients and leads, provide educational and informative posts that can boost engagement, and develop a strong following of leads and clients.

4. A referral system

Implementing a referral system allows you to leverage both your previous satisfied customers as well as the established partnerships you have with real estate agents and agencies in order to boost your lead generation. In general, consumers are more likely to trust the recommendations of friends or family members when compared to any other general marketing strategies. Creating a referral system that offers incentives for successful referrals can be implemented on a landing page on your website and shared through social media platforms.

5. CRM software

A quality customer relationship management (CRM) platform is a useful tool when it comes to building and nurturing customer relationships and managing leads. It allows you to manage all your customer data in one central location, track all individual customer interactions, including phone conversations, emails, and their position in the loan process, and automate many different marketing and sales tasks. In addition, analytics within the CRM helps to provide deeper insight into your target audience and show what marketing strategies are providing you the most benefit.

Keeping your marketing toolbox full is essential

Keeping your marketing toolbox filled with the tools that work best for you is essential. As with any toolbox, tools may wear down and their effectiveness dimmish and, when that happens, it may be time to find a new tool that helps get the job done. As a loan officer, your goal is consistent lead generation, and finding the tools that work best for you is essential.

At Good Vibe Squad, we understand the need for consistent leads when it comes to the mortgage industry and our Unfair Advantage™ program is here to help boost your lead generation. To learn more about how we can take your business to the next level, schedule a call today.

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14 Loan Officer Questions to Ask Clients

As a loan officer, it is important to work on building a relationship with your clients to best walk them through the mortgage process. Learning what questions loan officers should ask first-time home buyers is an essential part of becoming a successful loan officer. But what questions do loan officers ask and which questions will provide you with the key information you need to conduct a thorough client interview and get the mortgage process started off on the right foot? Here we take a look at some of the most common questions loan officers ask their clients during an initial intake interview.

Is this your first home?

Asking your potential clients if this will be their first home purchase provides valuable insight into many aspects of the mortgage process. For starters, first-time home buyers often have special loan options available that they can qualify for. In addition, if they are first-time homebuyers, they are not familiar with the mortgage process and may need more help navigating the process.

Why do you want to buy a home?

This is an important question to establish what type of loan your borrower may qualify for. Are they buying the home as a primary residence, vacation property, or investment property they plan to rent out? What type of home are they looking to purchase? A single-family residence or a duplex or condo? These are all questions that can make a difference in the loan type determination.

What is your price range?

Asking what their price range is for their monthly mortgage payment will help you better determine what loans they may be eligible for and how much home they can reasonably afford. It can also help you determine if they have realistic expectations when it comes to a home purchase and qualify for the home they want.

What is your timeline?

Knowing how quickly your borrowers are hoping to close on their new home can help to give you a better idea of what to expect and how quickly to walk them through the process. Have they already made an offer on a home and is there an established escrow period in place? In cases where they are hoping for an expedited closing, you will need to have everything ready to go and the necessary documents as soon as possible.

Are you working with a real estate agent?

Loan officers and real estate agents often work together or have established partnerships. Ask if your client already has a working relationship with an agent and, if they do not, you can refer them to a partner agent.

Do you have a co-borrower?

Knowing who is buying the home is essential. Is this a single-buyer purchase? Are a husband and wife buying the home together with two purchasers? Are two single adults buying the home to share? Knowing how many people will be on the mortgage allows you to better determine what information is necessary and how much they will qualify for together.

Do you have funds available for a down payment?

Because many loan options still require a down payment, knowing how much your clients have available for a down payment can help you better determine how much house they can afford and what loans they may qualify for.

What is your income?

Determining what your client’s monthly income is can help you determine how much they can afford in mortgage payments. When asking about income, you must take into consideration everything from employment income, disability, social security, child support and alimony, rental income, and more.

What is your work history?

For many mortgages, a stable income history is essential Asking for information about a client’s work history helps you to determine if they have at least a steady two-year work history and, if not, they can provide you with the reasons why.

Are you self-employed?

Self-employment often requires additional paperwork and an altered process when it comes to a mortgage. For example, self-employed individuals may need to provide a year-to-date profit and loss statement, as well as two years of business income tax returns. This additional information falls outside of the normal parameters when it comes to the mortgage process so knowing what to expect ahead of time can be beneficial.

What is your credit history?

While you will run a credit report on your clients, it is a good idea to ask what their credit history is ahead of time to give you an idea of what to expect. If they know they have some credit challenges, you may be able to recommend possible loan options or credit repair options before running a hard inquiry.

What is your current debt status?

Understanding your client’s current debt, such as credit cards, student loans, car loans, child support, etc. can give you a good idea of their current debt-to-income ratio and what loans they may be able to qualify for.

What are your current monthly housing expenses?

Knowing what your clients currently spend on their housing payments, whether as monthly rent or mortgage payments, can allow you to make a reasonable estimate as to what they may be able to afford when it comes to a new mortgage.

What’s important to you about your mortgage?

Asking this question allows you to learn what is important for your borrowers regarding a mortgage. Are they looking for flexible payment options, the lowest payment options, or the quickest payoff, for example? Learning this information will help you better tailor the available mortgage options to their needs.

Asking the right questions gives you the right answers

When it comes to the mortgage industry, knowing what questions to ask provides you with the answers you need to deliver the best possible experience to your borrowers. Asking these recommended questions is a great way to gather information and begin to develop a relationship with your clients.

At Good Vibe Squad, our team is here to help you build and grow your mortgage business through qualified lead generation. To learn more about our Unfair Advantage™ program and how we can help boost your bottom line, schedule a call today.

14 Loan Officer Questions to Ask Clients was first seen on: Good Vibe Squad

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Mortgage Refinance Leads: What You Need to Know

Mortgage refinancing is a major component of every mortgage business and generating leads is something that every loan officer works to do. But what exactly are mortgage refinance leads? Should you buy them? Can you obtain exclusive refinance mortgage leads? This quick guide will take a closer look at what these leads are and how your can best benefit from them.

What are mortgage refinance leads?

Mortgage refinance leads are specific lead types that are often generated through online websites, such as Experian, LendingTree, NetQuote, and TransUnion. When a prospective buyer visits one of these sites looking for information on a home refinance, they provide contact information, creating a lead. These websites then sell these to loan officers within the first 24-48 hours as “fresh” or “live” leads. Any leads that do not sell immediately becomes known as ‘aged leads’ and are typically sold at a reduced cost.

Should you buy mortgage refinance leads?

Purchasing bulk mortgage refinance leads, including aged leads, is a great way to boost your lead generation and increase your sales. These leads are validated and, depending on cost, often provide a greater ROI than traditional lead generation methods, such as cold-calling, direct mail campaigns, and other advertising methods.

How much does mortgage refinance leads cost?

Mortgage refinance leads can vary in price and that price depends on many different components, such as the age of the lead and how many leads you are looking to purchase at one time. For example, you can expect to pay between $20-$30 per lead for an exclusive, fresh lead. If you are looking for more affordable bulk prices, aged leads can vary from $0.08 to $1.50 per lead based on the age of the mortgage lead and how many leads you are purchasing at a time.

Are mortgage refinance leads exclusive?

Most reputable companies that sell mortgage refinance leads offer exclusive leads to all their buyers. This means that you are the only one that will get these leads. However, it is always a good idea to confirm with a company that your leads will be exclusive.

Other ways to generate mortgage refinance leads

While purchasing mortgage refinance leads is a great way to start and, in many cases, can be the most cost-effective method of generating these lead types, there are other ways you can generate leads for your business.

Optimized website

Creating an optimized website is a great place to start when it comes to lead generation. But what is an optimized website? Website optimization is a process that involves many different strategies to improve the performance of your website, drive more traffic to your site, and increase conversions. For example, you want a website that looks inviting on both a computer and a mobile device, loads quickly, offers seamless navigation, and includes the correct keywords and content to rank well within the search engines. Using tools like Google Analytics, you can track various metrics within your site to see what areas may need improvement to meet these goals.

Content marketing

Content creation is an effective method of lead generation, as well as a way to highlight your knowledge and expertise. Content marketing can include everything from blog articles posted to your website or partner’s (real estate agent) website, videos shared on social media, regular podcasts, or more that are designed to educate and engage prospective leads. For example, if you are looking to generate refinance leads, creating a blog post or podcast on the benefits of a mortgage refinance would be a great place to start. When creating content, be sure to include a call-to-action and contact information that tells your readers or viewers how you can help and what to do next.

Social media marketing

In today’s world, just about everyone has a social media account and uses it daily. As a loan officer, you must tap into the power of social media when it comes to lead generation. With a business social media account, you can share your content marketing, as well as other short statistics or other information your clients may find interesting about the industry. When you provide valuable information, your clients are likely to share this information with their followers, giving you a far greater reach and exposure to many potential leads.
In addition, through social media marketing, you can actively engage with customers and prospective leads, sharing your knowledge and establishing yourself as an industry leader.

Advertising campaigns

While traditional advertising methods, such as mailers or brochures, are still an effective option in some cases, many have turned to online marketing campaigns. Paying for pay-per-click advertising on sites such as Google, or social media advertising campaigns on Facebook, can often be an effective method of generating mortgage refinance leads when you choose the correct keywords, such as “mortgage refinance in (your city).”

Referrals

Leveraging referrals can also play a major part in your mortgage refinance lead generation. Networking with industry-related partners, such as real estate agents, financial planners, CPAs, and more can be a great place to start. Working together with these professionals will help you boost your referral network and help to enhance your lead generation.

Generating mortgage refinance leads

Whether you choose to purchase mortgage refinance leads or try and generate your own leads using some of the techniques recommended, boosting your lead generation is essential for success. At Good Vibe Squad, we understand the importance of quality leads and lead generation for the mortgage industry and our Unfair Advantage™ program can help to set you apart from the competition. To learn more about how we can help, schedule a call today.

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10 Strategies for Mortgage Lead Generation

The mortgage industry is highly competitive and, to be successful, you need a focused plan for quality mortgage lead generation. However, creating a consistent pipeline of leads every month is often the most challenging aspect of the mortgage industry. Loan officers often struggle with finding qualified mortgage leads consistently. Using these 11 lead generation strategies can help you connect with more potential clients and help you develop a consistent stream of leads for your business.

1. Social media marketing

Social media is a great way to connect with potential clients and gain new leads. Sites like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter, allow your business to create an online presence where you can work to build a loyal following of customers and leads. In order to be successful with social media, it is important to engage with your customers. Create useful content that sparks conversation and, when questions are brought up, be sure to engage and provide answers. For a successful social media account, it is important to provide new content consistently, as well as provide regular engagement.

2. Local listings

Listing your business in local online directories, as well as establishing a Google My Business account, will help ensure that you are front and center when leads search for local mortgage companies and loan officers.

3. Personalized landing pages or websites

In today’s internet-based society, it is essential to establish an online presence. This can be a business website or landing page. When creating these pages, it is essential to include high-quality content that helps educate potential clients and answers some of the most common mortgage industry questions. Make sure to have clear and precise call-to-actions (CTAs). Don’t forget to include a contact form that allows you to capture lead contact information.

4. Referrals

Referrals are still one of the best ways to generate new leads. If you are a new loan officer, consider turning to family and friends for initial referrals. Once you have satisfied customers, don’t be afraid to ask them for a referral after a closing. Oftentimes they have friends or family that are looking to buy or sell a home as well.

5. Advertising

Advertising is a powerful way to generate interest in your services as well as boost lead generation. These days, when it comes to advertising, your options are endless.

Traditional Advertising

Traditional advertising options, such as placing advertisements in local newspapers and magazines, can still be a highly effective lead generation tool depending on your target market. Other traditional marketing options can include information leaflets or brochures that can be shared and passed out by networking partners, mail flyers or postcards, and billboard or print advertising outdoors.

Online Advertising

In our online-based society, online advertising offers a world of different options. Your options are unlimited, from pay-per-click advertising on search engines to social media advertising and sponsored posts. Other online advertising options include banner advertising on partner websites, targeted ads, website classifieds, and email campaign marketing.

6. Purchasing mortgage leads

If your budget allows, purchasing qualified mortgage leads is a good way to target specific lead generation. When purchasing leads, you provide your target audience information, and the mortgage lead seller matches qualified leads for a fee. When thinking about purchasing leads, there are a few things to consider. Will the leads be exclusive or non-exclusive? Do they have a return policy should the leads prove poor?

7. Networking with real estate professionals and other businesses

Networking is an essential part of lead generation for the mortgage industry. Joining your local Chamber of Commerce and looking for local real estate networking events is a great place to start. Make sure that you have business cards available to hand out during these events and work to build relationships that can help foster potential leads. When relationships are established, partnerships are possible. For example, partnering with a real estate agent allows you to provide them with marketing material that they share with their clients and vice versa. In addition, you can co-sponsor an open house where your contact material is also included.

8. Community event participation

Participating in or sponsoring community events, such as local baseball teams, charity events, or even your local school’s PTA, can be a great way to establish yourself in your local community and provide networking opportunities.

9. Publish quality content

Showcasing your knowledge and understanding of the mortgage industry to others is a great way to show potential leads that you are an expert in the industry and help to develop trust. Creating articles for local magazines, real estate publications, or even local newspapers can be a great lead generation tool.

10. Reviews

These days, more and more people are turning to reviews when it comes to deciding on any type of product or service, so quality reviews can often be one of your best forms of lead generation. After a successful closing, don’t be afraid to ask your customers to write a review. In order to make it easy for them, provide a direct link to a review site where they can post their review.

Using All Your Available Tools for Lead Generation

When it comes to creating a steady stream of leads for your business, you must take advantage of all your available tools and options. Implementing the strategies here can help boost your lead generation and provide you with the stream of qualifying customers you are looking for. However, if you are still looking for more ways to boost your lead generation, the team at Good Vibe Squad can help. To learn more about how our Unfair Advantage™ program can help you generate more qualified leads and leave your competition in the dust, schedule a call with us today.

The blog post 10 Strategies for Mortgage Lead Generation is republished from: https://goodvibesquad.com

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Video Lighting Tips for Your Mortgage Marketing Materials

Video marketing is growing in popularity and successful businesses are realizing that they need to take advantage of this marketing media. In fact, Invideo reports that 9 out of 10 viewers report they want to see more videos from brands and businesses. However, this means you may need to up your game when it comes to creating marketing videos, beginning with the best lighting for video recording. But how do you get the right lighting for your videos? Here we take a closer look at lighting and how to set up lighting for video marketing.

Importance of good lighting for videos

Lighting can be just as important for your video as the message you are sharing. A dark video can hide important information while a video with too much light can be difficult to watch and stay engaged with. Finding the correct lighting helps to ensure that your video content is sharp and professional. This allows you to clearly convey your message and appear professional. The good news is, to achieve good lighting you don’t need to hire a professional or invest in expensive equipment. Understanding basic lighting techniques allow you to get it right the first time.

How to set up lighting for video

When creating a video and setting up lighting, you first need to take a look at your environment so you know what you will need. Determine where you are creating your video and what natural light is available. Is it a sunny day with sunshine coming in the windows? Are you in a dark room with no natural light? Take notice of shadows and be prepared for potential changes, such as a storm moving in that takes away the natural sunshine. When creating a video, the best location is one where you have as much control over lighting as possible.

1. Choosing the lighting type

Your location will help determine the best lighting type in order to achieve a high-quality video. Your options can include taking advantage of natural light to higher-end lighting options.

Budget option

For a tight budget, taking advantage of natural light is your best option. However, when using natural light, you must make sure that the light illuminates the face and does not cast shadows over important areas.
If you are unable to take advantage of natural lights, there are some low-cost lighting options you can use. Cheap clamp lights allow you to clamp lights wherever you need additional illumination. However, they do not offer the ability to dim or reduce the brightness of the light, and standard bulbs can be too bright and harsh and also cast deep shadows. To counteract this, you can mute the light with diffusion paper or a soft material over the light source.

Mid-range lighting options

If you have a slighting higher budget, you can consider studio lights designed to create a well-balanced studio appearance, with the correct amount of light for your video recording. However, these lights can be large and bulky and are often too big for a small office. Another option is a small desk-top light that allows for adjustable brightness and color temperature, giving you the perfect light for filming videos at your desk.

High-end lighting options

If you plan to video marketing material regularly or want to include video webinars as well, investing in high-end lighting options may be something to consider. These higher-end lighting options offer features such as the ability to change the lighting on the fly, create high-quality diffusion, provide full-range dimmers, and offer stronger output, good for larger offices or presentations. Investing in high-end lighting options is a good idea if you are creating a regular studio for video production, otherwise, you can save money by choosing lower-cost options.

2. Setting up the lights

Once you have lighting options available, the next step is setting up the lights to provide the best lighting solutions. The most common method used is three-point lighting. This requires three lights, known as a key light, a fill light, and a backlight.

To best understand this setup, consider a clock. For your video, you will be sitting or standing in the center of this clock. Your key light should be positioned at the four of the clock and is your brightest light, designed to illuminate you. The fill light goes at the eighth position and is designed to eliminate shadows caused by the key light. The fill light should be about half the brightness of the key light. The backlight goes in between the one and two clock positions and is designed to help create depth.

3. Choosing the light temperature

Not all lights are created equal. Chances are you have seen how some lights provide a bluer or whiter tone (such as fluorescent lights) or a more yellow tone. This change in tone is considered light temperature, with the bluer and whiter tones being cool while the yellower tones are warm. Temperature is measured on the kelvin scale and some examples can include daylight with a blue sky measuring around 10K (cool) while an early sunrise measures 3K (warm). Choosing your color temperature will depend on preference, however, all of your lights must offer the same color temperature. For a good balance, look for daylight bulbs that offer a temperature of 5K.

4. Fixing the glare

Glare, especially on glasses, can be a big distraction in videos. In order to reduce the risk of glare, you can consider lifting your lighting higher or moving your key and filling lights farther away from the subject.

Other tips to get better lighting for videos

While creating a video recording station is great for regular videos, it isn’t always an option. Sometimes you might want to create a quick video at your desk or maybe an outdoor video is necessary. Here we offer a few more tips for different video scenarios.

1. Shooting a video at your desk

If you have the room around your desk, setting up the three-point lighting mentioned above is the best option. However, not all workspaces are set up to allow for this. If this is the case, you want to make sure that you either have a window near your desk that provides adequate natural light or an LED lamp on your desk that you can move to provide the right lighting. Play around with lighting options to see which setup provides the best light and minimal shadowing for your video recording.

2. Filming outdoor videos

Whether you are filming during the day or at night, outdoor video recording provides unique challenges. Obviously, you can’t carry around lighting while you record, but you can take advantage of your natural surroundings. If filming during the day in the sun, look for areas in the shade that will help avoid the harshness of the natural sunlight. Avoid direct sunlight that can cast shadows on your face or cause you to squint while speaking.

If filming in the evening, look for areas near a streetlamp that will provide subtle lighting. Do not go too close to the streetlamp, however, as this can cause long shadows on your face that block your eyes.

3. Avoid mixed video lighting

As we mentioned above, when choosing your video lighting options, it is important to have all your lighting at the same color temperature. So, if your office has large fluorescent lights overhead, you don’t want to use warmer tone lights in your three-point setup. In this scenario, you are best to turn off the overhead lights and simply use your three-point light system to illuminate the setting for your video.

The correct lighting allows you to put your best face forward

With video marketing becoming an essential tool for all businesses, putting your best face forward in your videos will help you better connect with your target audience. Following these lighting tips can help you create the high-quality videos you need to connect with your audience and increase your lead generation.

At Good Vibe Squad, we understand the importance of quality lead generation and our Unfair Advantage™ program can help give your business the boost it needs. Schedule a call today to learn how Good Vibe Squad can help your business reach its goals.

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Funny Mortgage Memes for Your Social Media

If you have a social media account, chances are you have seen a wide variety of memes shared by friends and family. These memes are cultural shorthand or sorts designed to emphasize a story or point in an often humorous way. Because of their popularity and the fact that many users are eager to share them with their followers, companies are utilizing memes in their marketing strategies. But can funny mortgage memes really make a difference? The fact is, if you choose or create the right loan officer meme or real estate meme, it could go viral, and you could have hundreds or thousands of potential new followers in no time at all.

What are mortgage memes?

Memes typically contain a culturally relevant image with the addition of text designed to convey the desired message. When creating a meme, you want an image that your target market will identify with immediately and then include relevant text that both fits the image and your desired marketing message.

Should loan officers use memes?

In the mortgage industry, meme marketing is an essential element if you want to engage in social media and boost your followers. Memes can be a powerful tool that can help mortgage lenders:

• Generate leads through referrals and new followers
• Increase your social media audience engagement
• Introduce your business to new followers with a creative and unique message that shows your personality
• Educate borrowers in the mortgage industry in a format that is more fun, engaging, and memorable

Types of memes for mortgage marketing

When creating memes for mortgage marketing, there are three main types of memes to consider. It is important to create a mixture of these different meme types as part of your mortgage marketing strategy as they will appeal to different audiences and draw in different followers.

Educational Memes

The loan process can be confusing and overwhelming for borrowers. By using a meme, you can address mortgage-specific terms or processes in a fun, yet educational manner that social media followers are more likely to engage with, understand, and remember than a blog post or educational post that is simply text. Here are some examples of educational memes.

Clear to close memes

In the mortgage industry, when a borrower is clear to close, it is time for celebration! It is time for your borrower to get the keys and move into their new dream home. Clear to close memes focus on this celebration and the positive moment this is for all homebuyers. You can even take advantage of this opportunity and use a phot-op of the buyers in front of their new home, turn the image into a congratulatory meme and post it to them as a thank you. Here are some examples of clear-to-close memes.

Asking for referrals

Whether you are looking for new leads or referrals to new industry partners, like realtors, memes can be a fun way to ask for referrals and partnerships. It is a way for you to share your personality and connect with buyers and real estate partners that you will connect with and work well with. Here are some examples of referral memes.

How to effectively use memes

Once you have created your memes, how do you effectively add them to your social media marketing strategy? Here we offer some basic tips to help you effectively use memes online to boost sales, engagement, and referrals.

1. Know your audience

Before creating and posting memes, it is important that you understand your target audience. If you are targeting primarily older homeowners for refinancing, then your memes should contain visual references and test that they will find humorous or engaging. In contrast, if you are targeting first-time homebuyers, you will likely have a little more creative freedom. No matter who your target audience is, you want to make sure your memes are not offensive in any way.

2. Take advantage of humor

In today’s stressful world, we can all use a laugh, and sharing a funny meme may be just what it takes to connect with that potential client or new lead. Delivering a meme that shows your humor and gives them a laugh is likely to be more memorable than a simple snippet of text in a social media post.

3. Don’t go overboard

While your personal social media feed may be filled with memes, as a mortgage lender, you don’t want to post too many memes. Adding memes in with other social media posts, such as blogs, market information, educational webinars, etc. provides a wide range of marketing opportunities and appeals to a wider audience.

4. Stay compliant

As with any of your marketing strategies, you must make sure any memes you create follow state and federal regulations, and you remain in compliance.

5. Add your contact information

When creating a meme, you want to make sure that you include your brand information, such as your name and contact information. This can be added to the image below the meme and can include your agency logo or other important contact information. This way, when your followers share the meme, new contacts know how to find you.

Leveraging memes to boost your bottom line

Staying on top of trends and what appeals to your target audience is essential for any marketing strategy. In today’s social media world, memes play a vital role. Including memes in your marketing strategy is a great way to target new followers and increase brand awareness. At Good Vibe Squad, we understand just how important leads can be to business success. Our Unfair Advantage™ program delivers a boost to your lead generation. To learn more about how we can help you grow your business, schedule a call today.

Funny Mortgage Memes for Your Social Media is republished from: www.goodvibesquad.com

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Guide on How to Do Mortgage Advertising in Social Media

As a mortgage professional, you know that your industry must comply with a long list of state and federal regulations. This is especially true when it comes to both traditional forms of advertising, as well as advertising on social media. Mortgage loan ads must follow specific guidelines and any form of mortgage loan advertising is subject to lender audits to ensure compliance. These mortgage advertising tips for social media can help ensure you remain compliant while reaching your target audience.

State and Federal Guidelines

When it comes to mortgage advertising, federal advertising rules apply to consumer mortgages while state regulations apply to both consumer and business mortgages. While federal regulations apply to all mortgage lenders, you will need to consult with the regulations of your state in order to ensure compliance. Here we look at some of the federal rules governed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

First-point-of-contact information rules

First-point-of-contact refers to marketing materials designed to make initial contact with a prospective client in order to establish a relationship. This type of marketing can include everything from business cards and stationery to emails, websites, and social media profiles. Any first-point-of-contact material you create must include the broker’s name and the licensing number of each broker.

Availability of advertised mortgages

If you advertise specific mortgage terms, these terms must actually be available to a borrower. The misrepresentation of a consumer’s likelihood of mortgage approval violates Regulation N, which we will explain in-depth below.

Misleading terms

Any form of advertising, including social media, must not include any false or misleading terms that can mislead the borrower. This includes interest rates, fees, costs, taxes, insurance, and any potential aspects of an advertised mortgage.

Triggering terms

The FTC defines any words or phrases that advertise specific terms of a credit agreement as triggering terms. When these terms are used in social media marketing, disclosures are required. Triggering terms can include the amount of a finance charge, the number of payments, and a down payment amount expressed as a percentage or a whole dollar amount. Examples would be “For as little as 3.5% down” or “30-year mortgage.”

Other prohibitions

In addition to previously mentioned guidelines, mortgage advertising is also prohibited from advertising that includes the simulation of a check, as they can mislead borrowers into thinking they are guaranteed money that is not actually available to them. In addition, no form of mortgage marketing can discriminate based on ancestry, color, disability, marital status, natural origin, race, religion, or sex.

Mortgage advertising on Facebook

Many social media platforms, such as Facebook, are designed to help advertisers remain compliant with their governing bodies when it comes to selecting target audiences. For example, when creating Facebook marketing campaigns, Facebook requires the use of Special Ad Audiences for certain advertisers to choose a broad target audience that is seen as more inclusive and non-discriminatory.

Rules about interest rates

Current interest rates can be used in mortgage advertising with conditions. To start, any interest rate you advertise must be the actual rate that your company is currently offering. This means that should your offering rate change, you need to immediately change your ad to reflect the new rate or pull the ad completely. In addition, you must display the annual percentage rate, or APR, conspicuously.

Addressing mortgage compliance

When it comes to mortgage advertising, there are several specific regulations that mortgage lenders must follow in order to remain compliant. The three main regulations when it comes to advertising include regulations B, N, and Z.

1. Regulation B

Regulation B is the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and is designed to ensure that all creditworthy consumers have access to mortgage loans. While this regulation does not provide specific advertising requirements, it does prohibit lenders from practices, including advertising, that discriminate against consumers based on age, ethnicity, gender, marital status, and nationality.

2. Regulation N

Regulation N was established by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the FTC in the Mortgage Acts and Practices in Advertising law. This regulation includes all the basic advertising rules for commercial marketing materials. The goal of this regulation is to prohibit deceptive mortgage advertising, including things such as mortgage type misrepresentation, not providing the variability of interest rates, not indicating potential consumer fees, and not explaining how a fixed-rate mortgage can change over the long term.

3. Regulation Z

Regulation Z is the Truth in Lending Law. The goal of this regulation is to provide consumers with the actual cost of the loan and allows for better credit term and rate comparisons between lenders. This regulation requires that all mortgage loan advertising provides the truth to consumers and does not include anything misleading. It requires the disclosure of interest rates, both nominal and APR.

Ensuring Facebook Marketing is Compliant

With the popularity of social media, social media marketing is essential for business success and the generation of new leads. However, because every mortgage lender is subject to audits, it is essential to make sure all of your marketing efforts, including social media marketing, follow the regulations and remain compliant in order to avoid fines or, in a worst-case scenario, a lockdown. At Good Vibe Squad, we understand how important lead generation is to a successful business. Our Unfair Advantage program can help you boost your lead generation and bottom line. Schedule a call today to learn more about how the team at Good Vibe Squad can give your business the boost it needs.

Guide on How to Do Mortgage Advertising in Social Media is available on: https://www.goodvibesquad.com/

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Inbox Zero: How to Organize Gmail

According to the Harvard Business Review, the average business professional spends 28% of the workday reading and answering emails. Much of that time is spent sifting through your inbox determining which emails require immediate attention and which emails are nothing more than spam. But is there a way to reduce the amount of time spent going through emails? Can organizing and managing Gmail accounts make a difference?

Here we show you how the ‘Inbox Zero’ method and organizing your Gmail inbox can help to improve productivity and reduce time lost to your inbox.

Importance of managing your Gmail

According to statistics, the average worker sends or receives around 140 business emails a day. And that doesn’t even take into account personal emails or spam in your inbox. Sifting through all of these emails throughout the day can seriously reduce your productivity and ability to reach your business goals. In addition, with so many emails passing through your inbox, you risk missing important emails that need immediate attention. Implementing an email inbox organization strategy helps you create an organized Gmail inbox that reduces distractions and helps you stay on top of important emails that need immediate attention.

What is ‘Inbox Zero’?

Inbox Zero is an approach to inbox management that aims to keep your Gmail inbox as close to empty as possible. Developed by Merlin Mann, the Inbox Zero method involves different strategies and techniques that help professionals triage emails that are coming in to provide organization, maintain necessary email communication, and improve productivity, all while keeping your inbox as close to empty as possible.

How to organize emails in Gmail

Achieving an empty, or nearly empty, inbox and organizing your Gmail account may seem like an impossible task, but in the long run, it will be well worth it to implement these techniques into your Gmail account.

1. Prioritize your emails

The first step when organizing your Gmail account begins with the preferred layout. When you open your Gmail inbox, click on the gear symbol in the upper right corner and choose “Settings” and the “inbox” tab. Here you can choose from five different layout options that affect how emails come into your inbox. Choosing which layout you prefer is the first step in your Gmail organization process.

• Default: This setting organizes your emails by the date and time an email is delivered into your inbox. This setting allows for different category tabs at the top which work to filter emails as well.
• Important First: This layout allows Gmail to predict which emails it deems most important and displays them in a top inbox. Those emails deemed less important are placed into a bottom inbox.
• Unread First: Similar to the Important First option, the Unread First option includes a top and bottom inbox. Unread messages are placed in the top inbox while the bottom inbox includes all emails that have already been opened.
• Starred First: The Starred First option breaks your inbox into two boxes, with the top inbox featuring only emails that you have starred and everything else appearing in the bottom inbox.
• Priority Inbox: This layout brings together a combination of the other options. Here, Gmail uses predictive analysis to determine which emails you are most likely to interact with and place those emails into your top view.

2. Use Labels

Labels are an effective tool to help you keep your inbox empty while also organizing your emails into specific categories. When you open your inbox, you will see a list of labels on the left side. By default, these labels include Inbox, Starred, Snoozed, Sent, and a variety of others. Every email in your inbox can be assigned one of these labels to better organize your inbox.

How to create labels

While there are the default labels, you are not limited to these labels and can instead create your own organization folders and labels. In addition, when creating labels, you can also nest sub-labels in each category. To do this, you simply click on the label tab and select “Create New” and create your label of choice. When creating labels, you also have the option of color-coding your labels to further distinguish them from others. Once you create a label, you will notice a new folder appear in the column to the left of the inbox.

How to apply labels

By selecting an email in your inbox and then clicking on the “labels” tab at the top, you can choose which label an email will receive. Then, the label will automatically attach to the email subject area, giving you a way to organize your inbox. You can take this one step further and transfer messages into their label folder in order to keep your inbox at zero or when a message is archived, it will automatically transfer to the labeled folder. If an email fits into multiple categories, you can assign them multiple labels.

3. Use filters

Once you have created custom labels, you can apply filters to emails that will cause similar incoming messages to automatically filter into their designated label folder. For instance, if you know that every Monday you receive an internal company bulletin email that is not something that needs immediate attention, you can apply a filter that will automatically deliver that into a bulletin folder that you can open when you have time to address the email. Doing this will help keep your inbox clutter-free and leave room for more important emails.

To apply filters, simply select an email you wish to filter and click on the “more” button at the top of the inbox. Select “Filter messages like this” from the drop-down menu that appears. Here you can choose how to filter the messages, such as by keywords, subject lines, specific senders, attachments, or additional criteria. Once you select the criteria, you click “Create filter with this search” and decide on the specific action the filter will take, such as moving messages to the custom folder and not into the inbox.

When finished, simply click “Create filter” and your messages will bypass your inbox and go directly to where you want them to.

4. Eliminate unnecessary tabs

The Gmail default layout comes with five default tab categories: Primary, Social, Updates, Forums, and Promotions. These tabs allow Gmail to filter emails into these different categories. However, not everyone will need all these categories available and there is always the risk of emails being incorrectly filtered. This means you need to periodically check every tab for potential important emails. Eliminating unnecessary tabs helps to keep your inbox more streamlined and easier to check. To eliminate unnecessary tabs, click on your settings at the top of your inbox and choose to customize your inbox type. Here you will have the option to choose which tabs to enable. This is not necessary when you choose the other Gmail layout options.

5. Utilize the Send and Archive Features

Now that you have created multiple labels and filters, you can further organize and empty your Gmail inbox by automatically archiving certain emails into your custom folders. To activate this feature, click on the gear icon at the top of your inbox and choose “settings” from the drop-down menu. Scroll down and select the “Show Send & Archive button in reply” option and then save your changes. With this activated, you will now have two options when you send a reply to an email. One is a traditional send, and the other is an option that will automatically send the reply and then archive the message into its designated label folder.

6. Mute email threads

If you constantly receive group messages between customers and/or co-workers that don’t necessarily involve you, you can choose to mute the conversations until you have time to go back and read them. Instead of the new messages coming into your inbox, they will automatically be archived where you can access new conversations when you desire. To mute a Gmail conversation thread, open the email and click “more” in the drop-down menu. Here you can simply choose “mute” from the list and the conversation is archived.

Boost productivity with Gmail management

By taking control of your Gmail account and staying on top of inbox management, you can greatly reduce your time spent struggling to stay on top of emails throughout the day, leaving you with more time to focus on other areas of your business and, in turn, boost productivity. At Good Vibe Squad, we understand the importance of customer and business relationships and how emails play a vital role in maintaining and nurturing those relationships to boost your business and we are here to help. Our Unfair Advantage™ can help you target your ideal clients and automate many of your email processes, helping to further boost productivity. To learn more, schedule a call with our team today.

The article Inbox Zero: How to Organize Gmail was originally published to: https://goodvibesquad.com

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