In life and in business and in this case both, realistic assessment of the bottom line is critical to success. Over the last year or so, the changes brought to the mortgage business to protect the consumer, have made it more challenging and costly than ever to run a successful mortgage brokerage firm. Costs are up and revenue opportunity is down which has been challenging. However, the most critical thing is these changes have made it more, not less difficult to serve our clients effectively. Thus, the reasoning behind the decision to have the America’s Mortgage Choice team become affiliated with Pacor Mortgage, a mortgage banker.
The biggest challenge we have faced is the two to three weeks that most lenders are taking to underwrite loans. As a broker, you are often considered a third party originator (TPO) and thus, in the current market, saddled with proving that both you, and the customer are not trying to scam the system. Loans are underwritten with a “guilty until proven innocent” mentality that makes it tough to get anything done quickly. This is reasonable prudence on the part of the companies buying loans from brokers but it is not helping customers used to moving more quickly. Mortgage Banking allows us to work with our underwriters to make sense of the customer’s situation quickly and get reasonable loans approved in a reasonable time. The customer wins.
Thanks to all of our customers who have worked with us over the years, we appreciated the opportunity to serve you. We expect that this transition will better position us to deliver great rates and great service quickly. In the current mortgage market, you have to be careful when you are working to get a mortgage which is no longer an easy task for the most qualified of borrowers. We are excited to be in the best position possible, as mortgage bankers to help our customers navigate today’s mortgage market.
