Sam's Blog

Contact Management Systems - Starting with a Good Planner!

Sam Thompson — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:42:58 -0600

Contact Management Systems

In this business, like in any sales job, you have to keep up with prospects, clients, service provider contacts, referral sources, potential FSBOs, other agents, past clients, etc. In addition, you need to be able to keep up with the progress you have made with your clients as well as your production numbers so you can see how you are doing, year to date and this year, vs. last year, etc.

To be successful and to be more organized and less stressed out, a good system is critical.

Do you have a system?

An essential component is a good planner like a Franklin Planner or DayTimer or just one off the shelf in Wal-Mart is a start. Writing notes on dry cleaner tickets, receipts and napkins is not the way to go. By taking your notes in a planner so you can refer back to the notes, you are going to get many more things done. And the planner allows you to write down your appointments too so you'll never miss another one.

Beyond that, you can utilize a 3-ring binder or step-up with an Excel Spreadsheet, MS Access database or buy a database like ACT or Top Producer or use your personal information management device to help you track your contacts from the notes in your planner.

If you are interested, I have modified a simple database with some neat features from a MS Access template that utilizes some things that a good realtor would need and I can customize it for your particular needs if you like. If you have MS Access and want me to set this up for you, let me know. If you don't have MS Access, go to Wal-Mart or eBay and buy it and then let me know!

Call me if I can help you with this! I want you to be very successful in this business!

Finally, remember that if you send your buyers to us, we will put them into our corporate database and track them for you! We retain information on all borrowers for 2 years so you can call me if you need help remembering a name or phone number.

Then, once we start processing their loans, we have the paperless system for making sure all documents are retained as well as contact information and closing condition status so you will never be without information needed to close your next deal. Just call me, my processor or our Agent Helpdesk or you can check online 24/7!

Sam Thompson, PHH Mortgage Advisor - Helping you GROW your business!

FHA Loans still Assumable!

Sam Thompson — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:05:56 -0600

Did you know this?

FHA loans can still be assumed with us. Customers may have an opportunity to buy a property and assume the mortgage of the current owner. The seller (original owner) usually remains liable unless released by the lender. We will have to approve the new buyer in order to release the seller (original owner) from liability.

Available on all FHA products.

Qualifying

The new customer and property must meet standard underwriting criteria.
The sales price must be equal to or greater than the current balance. A property cannot be sold for less than the unpaid mortgage balance. LTV cannot exceed 100%.
The customer may be required to provide a down payment, closing costs and escrows. (E.G., If the house is being sold for more than the unpaid principal balance of the loan, the seller isn't paying the closing costs, and the escrow account is short and taxes are paid in advance.) Verification of funds to Close is not required.

Send all of your buyers to us so we can get them in an assumable FHA loan that can be another huge selling point when your buyers are ready to sell down the road if interest rates rise significantly. I know, that's how I bought my house back in 1984 when rates were around 13% and I assumed an 11.5% loan!

Sam Thompson, PHH Mortgage Advisor. Your trusted source in making sure your buyers are getting the best service in the industry.

Interest Rate Explanation - How they are determined.

Sam Thompson — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:32:43 -0600

Interest Rates are Dropping Again!

Since interest rates are dropping again, I thought this might cause some folks to wonder what causes this. So, here's an overview of how mortgage companies set daily pricing. There is much disinformation that exists on the subject. In fact, daily price changes for FHA/VA and conventional loans are very simple to calculate.

1) Where pricing is concerned, a mortgage company must minimize risk without compromising production volume. When a company sets daily pricing, it is in effect taking a position against the market. In other words, the company is offering a rate to a borrower while market prices are still fluctuating. Loan Officers face the exact same dilemma. Interest rate quotes to consumers must be competitive in order to drive production, however the price can't be so low that the loan is originated at a loss. In addition, when a mortgage advisor quotes a price, there is always a danger that the market may move and a price change occurs.

2) There is an inverse relationship between the price of bonds and the movement of interest rates. As interest rates rise, the price of bonds falls and vice versa.

For example:

Bond Price        Discount points to consumer
     98                                        2.00
     99                                        1.00
     100                                      None
     101                                       1.00 rebate

As bond prices rise, the number of discount points the borrower must pay decrease. When the media speaks to a rally in bonds, they are indicating that bond prices have risen which pushes interest rates lower.

3) As loans are originated they are packaged and sold as mortgage bonds or mortgage-backed securities (MBS's). The amount of money that an investor will pay for a mortgage bond depends on the interest rate paid by the mortgagor and current market conditions. Ginnie Mae bonds are common, daily prices for different pools can be found in most newspapers. Whenever a borrower makes a mortgage payment, a portion of the payment is passed on to the holder of the Ginnie Mae security. It is the daily price fluctuations in the forward mortgage-backed security market that cause mortgage companies to change pricing daily.

4) Treasury bonds represent Government debt and not mortgage debt. Thus, mortgage interest rates are not determined by the price or yield of either the 10 or 30-year Treasury bond. Often there is a large disparity between the amount of movement of Treasury bonds when compared to mortgage-backed securities in any given trading day. Watching the Treasury market to determine daily changes in discount points is impossible. Period.

5) Most mortgage companies watch market activity for over an hour each day before setting daily pricing. Mortgage companies commonly set daily pricing based on the bond levels at 10:00 am eastern. Daily price changes are the difference between prices of the mortgage-backed securities from 10:00 a.m. ET. By subtracting the price of the mortgage backed security from the price at 10:00 a.m. ET the day before, you derive the net movement in discount points.

6) The Treasury market opens at 8:30 a.m. ET and the mortgage-backed securities begin to trade at approximately 8:40 a.m. ET each day. Many economic reports are released at 8:30 am eastern time, so wide price swings are not uncommon directly following the market open. It is imperative to know when important economic data is scheduled for release.

7) Mortgage bonds are priced in 32's. Each 1/32nd is equivalent to 3.125 basis points. It takes 4/32's to see pricing improve by 1/8th etc.32nds. Depending on how your company prices, you may see daily price adjustments for a movement as small as 1/32nd or 3 basis points.

8) Mortgage companies make money originating and servicing loans, not by "playing the market". Bond traders make a living trading bonds, but the secondary marketing personnel of mortgage companies trade bonds to displace risk. In fact, when regulators audit mortgage companies, large, consistent trading gains are viewed negatively.

9) Daily rate changes for loan programs other than standard fixed rate loans are more difficult to track. Often investors such as Banks and Savings and Loans will price adjustable rate products based on asset/liability needs, therefore the daily price changes do not necessarily track changes in bonds.

Hope this helps you understand mortgage pricing!

Senior Mortgage Advisor

Carolina Mortgage Company - 843-230-7929

Senior Advisor - Helping you GROW your business!

www.samthompsonmortgage.com/

www.carolina-mortgage.com/

Checkout: http://www.activelaurinburg.com/ Active Adult Community Laurinburg, NC

Oldest cure for sore throat!

Sam Thompson — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:54:37 -0600

Know the oldest cure for a sore throat? Gargle with ice water for 30 seconds! This may be the world's best kept secret too. This is what a doctor told my daughter to do and it's the first I have ever heard of it. But, you need to stop at 30 seconds because it will give you a 'brain freeze' or cold headaches if you don't.

Speaking of old ideas that still work, why not start a "Newcomer's Club?" This is an awesome idea that you do not see anymore that can be a huge way for Realtors to capture new buyers and build a huge referral network too.

Read my tip of the week below for more on this neat idea!

Are you working hard at selling?

Here's the quote of the week I heard this week:

"I can't tell you that you will be successful if you work hard everyday, but I can tell you that you won't if you don't."

Remember the following selling points:

1. $7500 first-time home buyer tax credit, - Agents are not doing this yet!

2. Low interest rates with programs down to a 580 FICO score.

3. Some of the best home values in this greatest buyer's market in history!

CALL ME FOR A QUICK CLOSING TOO! WE HAVE A NEW QUICK CLOSING CHECKLIST TO GET YOUR BUYERS CLOSED IN A HURRY! Keep reading for 2 good ideas that can really help you with this.

Senior Mortgage Advisor

Carolina Mortgage Company - 843-230-7929

Senior Advisor - Helping you GROW your business!

www.samthompsonmortgage.com/

www.carolina-mortgage.com/

Checkout: http://www.activelaurinburg.com/ Active Adult Community Laurinburg, NC

Start a Newcomers Club to create a huge referral network!

Sam Thompson — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:57:24 -0600

You can do this!

This idea could be the best thing you can do to build your real estate business and here's why:

1. It gives you something different to promote and advertise in the papers, real estate circulations, magazines, retail flyers, hotel flyers, restaurant flyers, etc. and many can be free as part of the community calendar. Newspapers will print these to help ad value to their readers. Think about how many new buyers moving to town you'll meet first!

2. It gives you a great thing that you can control in getting people together on a regular basis and since they are newcomers, they are great for helping you pick up new buyers when their friends move to town. This club can be fun and will help them feel great about living here and this will help them recruit others.

3. Think about how attractive this group will be to existing businesses! By being in charge of this group, you can go to existing businesses and collect coupons, giveaways, promotions, etc. since these businesses know how important a new resident can be in becoming a new 'repeat customer' for their business. By going to these businesses regularly with ideas, etc., you can use these relationships to help your businesses too for networking for referrals from them too.

4. Once you start this group, you can start a special website for it too for getting the group together and for promoting events and the town. This website can be another place for you to promote your business too and soon, other sites will link you to theirs.

5. Beyond the business side of this, this can be a lot of fun for you too in meeting new people and in introducing them to old friends and in planning all kinds of events.

6. If this idea is too big for you, get some others to do it with you or talk to your broker about getting the entire office to start one. This approach would be better for larger cities. Maybe the broker can start it for the entire office for the whole city and then the agents can all get involved with neighborhood subgroups or areas of town subgroups. This would allow for smaller groups and also larger get togethers.

Click here for: Oakville Newcomers Club Website

Go out and start your "Newcomers Club" and grow your business! And when you start getting new buyers with this idea, call me to help them get a great mortgage too!

Senior Mortgage Advisor

Carolina Mortgage Company - 843-230-7929

Senior Advisor - Helping you GROW your business!

www.samthompsonmortgage.com/

www.carolina-mortgage.com/

Checkout: http://www.activelaurinburg.com/ Active Adult Community Laurinburg, NC

Do you have a Business Plan? Here's one you can copy to be a Top Producer!

Sam Thompson — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:10:08 -0500

A Good Business Plan is the Key!

We are our own worse enemy. Questions: Are we working towards our goals with a strategy that will ensure our success? NO! Do we have a plan to help us? I seriously doubt it!

If anybody ought to know this, it should be me because I used to sell business plan consulting services. I know how important this can be and I am working on mine right now.

Key elements for a good plan for you is to set your goals and metrics to measure yourself, define your target markets, devise some work ethics for your business, throw in a mission statement and a good sales philosophy and you have something that can help you manage your business.

Then if it doesn't work like you planned it, change it! It should be a working document that gets reviewed and tweaked and is constantly improving. But you have to start by sitting down and writing one.

Okay, I know that nobody is going to write one so I wrote one for you! Click below for the ultimate business plan that will make you a top producer. Just copy it over to your PC and modify it to suit your business. It is loaded with 28 target marketing ideas from my 200+ "Hit the Ground Running" ideas that you can use or just plug in your own.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE ULTIMATE BUSINESS PLAN

Go ahead, take your business to the next level with a good business plan and include me in your plan and I'll help you get there too!

Thank you for your referrals!

Senior Mortgage Advisor

PHH Mortgage - 843-230-7929

Senior Advisor - Helping you GROW your business!

Moore County, NC Virtual Tour Service

Sam Thompson — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:26:50 -0600

Here's a service available in the Southern Pines area for realtors and FSBOs.

Save Time and $$

Great Local Service Promotion

Check out Shuttlespeed360 for a great way to put your listings on realtor.com, youtube, craigslist, facebook, your website, your emails, etc. Chris Keitofski does a fantastic job with professional photos to make your listings pop online! He will put your listing on Realtor.com and show you how to put on other sites like youtube a craig's list, etc. He covers our area and only charges $125 for Moore CO and will drive to anywhere in our area for a small driving charge and if you have more than one, he will cut a deal on that too.

Check out his website and see some of his work here. Or call Chris at 910-603-2026 today. Don't put this off for your business!

Senior Mortgage Advisor

PHH Mortgage - 843-230-7929

Senior Advisor - Helping you GROW your business!

It's Show Time!

Sam Thompson — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:30:28 -0600

'Jaws' Police Chief Brody Roy Schieder 1932-2008 In Honor of Roy Schieder's passing last week, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about the open house. If you are my age you may have seen his 1979 movie "All That Jazz". In this movie he uses this line over and over again;

"ITS SHOW TIME"

Everyone that attends an open house has a motive, be it buying or selling, but some of it is to find out more about you. They are looking to see if you are the agent they want to work with. Let's face it, rarely does a prospect walk into an open house with their check book in hand and say "I want to make an offer".

Too many times, agents tell me that they just had a bunch of dummies come through their open house last weekend. Think about it, they aren't dummies, they are doing their homework. They might have been looking for the value in using a real estate agent and hopefully, they thought more of you!

The good news is, if you are prepared and show them the value in using you, you will have a customer. Remember the Internet has changed businesses drastically. Just look at stock brokers, before Etrade everybody used them to buy stocks. Did they all go out of business? No, but some did.

Before the Internet, buyers had to use real estate agents because there wasn't anyway to get information about a property without an MLS book. But now they have Realtor.com and plenty of other online search engines. You can no longer be an MLS book, use the open house to show them why you are valuable.

When your open house lookers leave, you want them saying, "I really liked that Realtor and I am really glad we stopped by". When they feel this way, they are going to think of you and will recommend you to others too, anytime they think of real estate.

So, get out and dazzle so prospective buyers and always remember,

"IT'S SHOW TIME!"

Another line Roy made famous when they saw Jaws for the first time was, ''You're gonna need a bigger boat'' and this is going to be the case for your success too!

Sam Thompson, PHH Mortgage

Senior Advisor - Helping you GROW your business!

The Doctor Analogy - Are you getting referred too?

Sam Thompson — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:06:25 -0500

Who do you call when looking

for a Doctor?

Think about it. How did you select your Doctor or Surgeon? How did you select your CPA or Attorney? What about your Plumber or Hairdresser? Usually from asking close friends who they use, right? You want to make sure that they are good from personal experiences and not from the ads you saw in the yellow pages, etc.

The same thing happens in Real Estate. I don't know the statistics on this but my guess is that it happens more than the others because, most people don't know much about these transactions because they only happen once or twice in a lifetime.

People probably call someone they know that recently bought or sold a house to find out what they thought about their Realtor or they ask someone they trust that may know like their CPA, Attorney, etc.

This is why the good agents that have been in the business the longest are doing so well. It's through direct referrals that they get from past clients and other service providers. The ones that are getting the most from this are the ones that stay in contact with their past clients and network with other service providers on a regular basis.

Here are a few ideas I think will really help you develop this marketing strategy.

Treat your clients with respect with professional and friendly service. Keep them well informed at all times.
Ask them for a reference letter after closing. This is very valuable in building a good presentation binder and in helping your clients think about how good you were throughout the transaction.
Stay in touch with them on a regular basis with holiday cards and birthday cards.
Stay in touch with other service providers that are likely to get asked if they know a good realtor too.
Finally, call your past clients at least annually to chat about THEM and not YOU. People love to talk about themselves if you will pause and let them do it and this really helps your rapport with them. But, always end the conversation with some good information about the market and ask if they know anybody that might be entering the market soon!

Then, your past clients will give you some referrals and they will remember you more and they will be out singing your praises.

Think of them as your little army of PR specialists!

Also, when your clients need a great mortgage guy, don't forget about me! If you refer them to me, I'll do everything I can to help them with professional and courteous service and I'll promote you too!

Senior Mortgage Advisor

PHH Mortgage - 843-230-7929

Senior Advisor - Helping you GROW your business!

YouTube Yourself and your Listings!

Sam Thompson — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:30:42 -0600

Are you using the internet to help your business?

Youtube yourself and your listings!

It's time to start using the internet in case you have not already starting doing so. Here are some examples of how others are doing it and some ideas of how you can promote your services too with youtube for FREE!

Click to view each one below:

Wilkesboro, NC Listing Video with realtor narrator You can hire someone or do it yourself.

Beaufort, SC Listing with realtor narrator This must be a service because this looks just like the first one...

Raleigh, NC Listing - soundtrack only The soundtrack option is okay but I personality like the other approach; just my taste.

Irmo, SC Listing - soundtrack only This one is like the other. Instead of this, why not do a walkthrough, pointing out the rooms and show the potential.

Listing Presentation Video - Do one of these and share the link to your prospects or FSBOs so they can see how you do it BEFORE they sign up with another realtor.

1st-time Buyer Presentation Video - Same as the listing presentation as a way to promote your service and personality on a video that can be embedded in your websites or blogs and emailed to your prospects too.

Funny Rent vs Buy Video - You can do something funny like this too!

One Wing Landing - You have got to watch this one! Nothing to do with real estate but certainly worth watching!

Open your mind and creative side in showing the world your personality and professional service online. It's free and easy with a little time and work.

Then, it's there to promote with any future promotions on realtor.com, craigslist, facebook, youtube, your website, your emails, etc.

Also, by putting all of your listings on video, your sellers are going to be sharing them to their family and friends too. What a impact this can have for your business! Send them an email link with the listing with your personal contact information and ask them to forward the email to all of their family, friends and anyone that asks about their home.

One more thing, you can also explore other youtube videos and facebook videos, etc. to see what others are doing and steal ideas and learn what you can do differently or better.

Use this slow time to get this going and you are going to turn slow time into fast time!!

MAKE SURE TO SEE THE PROMOTION ON JUST POSTED FOR A 360 VIRTUAL TOUR FOR ALL OF YOUR LISTINGS!

Senior Mortgage Advisor

PHH Mortgage - 843-230-7929

Senior Advisor - Helping you GROW your business!

Gas Prices Dropping - There's something to get excited about!

Sam Thompson — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:29:18 -0600

Gas prices below $2/gallon again!

I filled up with $1.95/gallon last week so there's some good news for our economy. Maybe this will get some people out riding around looking at properties again and calling you about buying!

Promote something like this: "Gas prices are dropping, mortgage interest rates are dropping, home prices are at a historic low, what are you waiting for? AND, if you are a 1st-time home buyer, the Gov't is giving you a tax credit up to $7500! Call me for the details!"

When they do, remember the following selling points:

1. $7500 first-time home buyer tax credit

2. Low interest rates with programs down to a 580 FICO score.

3. Some of the best home values in this greatest buyer's market in history!

Also, please make sure that your buyers and sellers know that WE HAVE MONEY TO LEND!! With all the negative mortgage news, many in the public do not know that we can lend money. Spread the news. Put this in your print ads too! CALL ME FOR A QUICK CLOSING TOO! WE HAVE A NEW QUICK CLOSING CHECKLIST TO GET YOUR BUYERS CLOSED IN A HURRY!

Senior Mortgage Advisor

PHH Mortgage - 843-230-7929

Senior Advisor - Helping you GROW your business!

Inspirational Thoughts: Let your passion show!

Sam Thompson — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 19:56:08 -0600

Hubble image 300 million light years away as seen through an area the size of the eye of a dime!

I recently met an engineer working on a new telescope that NASA is developing along with Canadian and European space agencies to replace the Hubble Space Telescope in a few years. This new NASA Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) will be positioned around 1 million miles from earth in a halo orbit at the L-2 libration point, a gravitational balance point far beyond the moon's orbit. This will allow the telescope to focus on very small points in space with open shutters for up to 5 days capturing the light and focusing on those images.

The engineer was very excited about his job and got me excited too with his passion in describing the new technology that will be employed. He told me about one image that Hubble collected that shows several galaxies that he liked that was seen from a point in space equivalent to looking through a hole in the eye of president Franklin D. Roosevelt on a dime held at arms length. I think the image above is what he was talking about known as the "Galaxy Cluster" that I found on the Internet.

The point of this is two fold: to educate you on this that I learned from this engineer AND to help all of us see that life is too short and we all need to be working in fields that can get us excited too. With this excitement, we too will show our passion and this will help others feel it too.

Are you excited about Real Estate Sales? If so, show it and use this passion to get others excited too. If not, get out and do something else for a living while you can before you have to retire. If you need help getting excited about your real estate career, call me and let me help you with some new motivational ideas!

Also, keep reading my emails and call me if you get a new prospect so I can help share my passion with your prospects too!

Description of the image above:

Coma Cluster, Abell 1656
Object Description: Galaxy Cluster
Position (J2000): R.A. 12h 59m 48s.70
Dec. +27° 58' 50".00
Constellation: Coma Berenices
Distance: 300 million light-years or 90 million parsecs
Dimensions: The image is approximately 9 arcminutes (1.7 million light-years or 500 kiloparsecs) wide.

About the Data Data Description: This image was created from HST data from proposal 10861: D. Carter (Liverpool John Moores University) and collaborators.
Instrument: ACS/WFC
Filters: F475W (SDSS g), F814W (I)
Exposure Date(s): November, 2006 - January, 2007
Exposure Time: 12 hours

About the Image Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Release Date: June 10, 2008

Get inspired and excited about your career and use your passion to get some new buyers this week!

Senior Mortgage Advisor

PHH Mortgage - 843-230-7929

Senior Advisor - Helping you GROW your business!

Disclosures can bite you!

Sam Thompson — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:55:38 -0600

I sat in on some CE today and heard some horror stories about realtors missing things like:

"There's hardwood under the carpet" - Don't be fooled! Builders sometimes only put hardwood around the perimeter of the room and not in the middle. If this is the case, you will not be able to tell by checking around the HVAC vents or pulling up the carpet in a corner.

"This house has granite countertops" - Now, many remodelers are putting in granite overlays for a savings.

"Brick Veneer and Hardieboard Plank Siding" - Without taking a closer look, you might miss that the bricks are actually a new product that looks like brick veneer but are really pretend bricks on a board and nailed to the floor joists.

Since your job as a Realtor is to discover and disclose, you are responsible for things that you say to promote so you must disclose them right or you could end up in a lawsuit. Scarey huh?

The best thing is to never ASSUME anything and get inspectors in to make the call on things you cannot tell and use this information to help your sellers and buyers understand the issues that could come up.

Sellers and buyers need professional realtors or it's "buyer beware!"

Govie Loan Checklist. Call us for a fast closing.

Sam Thompson — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:52:30 -0500

Think Michael Phelps was fast?

Here's what I need in order to make sure your FHA and VA loans are processed fast too!

1. Agreement of Sale contract and verification of property address making sure the individual unit numbers are accurate, if applicable.

2. All addendums and disclosures referenced in the Agreement of Sale are part of the contract and are fully executed by all parties.

3. The owner of record is confirmed and is listed as the "seller" indicated on the Agreement of Sale contract. If the property is bank owned, the power of attorney may be needed.

4. If there are any seller concessions, the seller can pay prepaid expenses, discount points and closing costs. Money for repairs, etc., cannot be included.

5. Only permanently affixed personal property is included in the Agreement of Sale (FHA Loans Only).

6. The real estate certification is signed by buyers, sellers, and selling agent (FHA Loans Only).

7. The FHA Amendatory Clause is signed and dated by both the buyer and seller (FHA Loans Only). The exact sales price must be indicated on the form.

8. VA Amendatory Clause must be signed and dated by both the buyer aqnd seller (VA Loans Only). It is acceptable to use the words "sales price" instead of listing the exact sales price.

9. VA Appraisals require a legal description of the property (VA Loans Only). The lot and block number are required to place an order for a VA appraisal.

10. For both FHA and VA loans, any changes must be initiated by both the buyer and seller. Addendums and disclosures referenced in the Agreement of Sale must be part of the contract and fully executed by all parties.

Call me for your quick Govie closings and once we get these items collected, we will be able to close them almost as fast as your conforming loans!

Senior Mortgage Advisor

PHH Mortgage - 843-230-7929

Senior Advisor - Helping you GROW your business!