Identify Sales Opportunities – A Sales Tool That You Didn’t Know You Had!

As a mortgage broker you have a number of tools in your arsenal. Filogix, Equifax, Purview and more… In an age of technology where everything is literally a click away, you have to be dynamic if you want to compete.

Filogix

Filogix has a wide array of sales tools but one of the most important which many brokers don’t take advantage of is the ability to set reminders when second mortgages are opening up. Many brokers will track regular renewals of firsts but forget about those lucrative seconds!! A second mortgage that opens up presents an amazing opportunity to up-sell your client from 2 payments to 1 by having them combine their mortgages.

Social Media

Social media is a powerful marketing tool. Many brokers make the mistake of just using it to announcement promotions and share rates. Social media is a platform meant to engage. When logging into your social media pay attention to what is happening in your networks. Pay attention to contacts who may be discussing plans to buy or sell a home or maybe a large scale renovation or vacation --- these are all opportunities for you to re-engage your contact and see if there is something you can do to help them achieve their goal.

Equifax

Anytime you do a mortgage you have to request an Equifax Credit Report. As you know, the credit report reveals any outstanding debt and credit products. Don’t throw out those old credit reports – your client of today may be your refinance of tomorrow! You can reference the credit report from the last deal you did for your client and identify debts that could be consolidated.

Purview

This is a tool that many brokers use for due diligence and it’s a sales tool too! Using this tool you can run a report and determine who the owner of the home is, the sales history on the home, mortgages registered against title and more. This gives you the opportunity to estimate equity and look for refinance opportunities.

Using the tools that you likely already have access to, you not only identify those new sales opportunities but also show your clients that you are invested in them and on top of what is happening with their finances – always caring, always being one step ahead of the game!

Take advantage of every resource available – it only benefits you to do so. For more about any of these tools, or to find out how you can take advantage of everything Purview For Mortgage Brokers has to offer, please call us today at 1.855.787.8439.

Trusted Advisor Series P1 – The Flawless Interview

Wouldn’t you agree that an important part of being a trusted advisor is ensuring a smooth mortgage closing by conducting an airtight interview at the outset of the mortgage application?

When you are first interviewing a client for a mortgage, the more that you can learn from them about their short and long term financial goals, the better positioned you will be to establish your role as their trusted advisor.

Of course, when a client submits a mortgage application you ask the standard questions to see if they qualify for a mortgage as a borrower – but what about questions that relate to the property being financed? A home, for most people, is the single largest investment that they will ever make and having a mortgage fall apart is not only expensive to all involved in the transaction, it can also be a crushing blow to someone who was about to purchase the home of their dreams or use home equity to finance something important.

In the example of a refinance mortgage, some questions to consider:

• When did you buy your home and what did you pay for it? This can help you identify discrepancies in value.
• When did you take out your mortgage and what was the amount financed? This can help you to identify discrepancies in mortgage balances.

Many times your customer omits information because they simply don’t know or don’t remember. You can impress your client by leveraging tools that provide you with information on demand. You may decide to avoid some personal questions and simply run some searches at the point of application to identify correct home ownership information, accurate mortgage balances and property value. This can be a win-win-win for you and your client:

• If there is a problem with a deal you and your client avoid the time and expense of going through the whole mortgage process only to have the deal not close.
• You may determine that you have a good deal as presented and be positioned to present your client with final numbers.
• You may identify that there is more equity than you initially thought and be positioned to offer the client more money or other financial products.

What about their mortgage terms: how fast do they want to be out of debt? If the client is getting a second mortgage is there a vision to see it combined with a first mortgage in the future – and what does the client need to do as it relates to their credit and finances to get there?

Any way you look at it, the tighter your interview the better the advisor that you can be because you can position your client to arrange the right type of financing for them, at the right terms, and most importantly, set the right expectations at the outset so that the client gets the mortgage they are promised.

Leveraging the right questions with specific tools makes you more competitive, raising your competitive advantage.

For more about how Purview For Mortgage Brokers can help you conduct a flawless interview, please call us today at 1.855.787.8439.

CAAMP 2014 Mortgage Forum – Will You Be There? We Will!

Ok folks, we are only a short time away from this year’s CAAMP Mortgage Forum, which is being held in Montreal. We will be there!! Will you?

We are looking forward to meeting customers from the financial industry and also other mortgage professionals. We are also super excited about some of this year’s speakers which include heavyweights like:

• Arlene Dickenson, CEO of Venture Communications and Co-Judge on Dragons Den
• Malcolm Gladwell – Best-selling author

Be sure to come by and see us at our booth for demos and prizes!!

To find out more about the CAAMP Mortgage Forum, or for more information about Purview For Mortgage Brokers, please contact us today at 1.855.787.8439.

Teranet announces changes to Quebec data Acquisition

Over the past several months we have been working hard to improve your overall PURVIEW experience and would like to take this opportunity to share some recent developments regarding our Quebec data acquisition strategy.

Historically, Teranet has relied on 3^rd party relationships to provide the majority of Quebec data used to calculate regional property valuations (AVM’s) as well as power the Teranet-National Bank House Price Index.  To ensure we continue to provide quality data to our valued customers, we are currently implementing a direct sourcing option that will improve the timeliness of our Quebec data in particular. 

As we transition to this direct sourcing option and repatriate our data in Quebec, the short term supply of Quebec AVM’s may be impacted.  Over time, the supply will continuously improve.  The Teranet-National Bank House Price Index will however not be impacted by this change and will continue to provide leading insight into the dynamics of a highly varied Canadian market. 

As we further integrate this approach, we will continue to communicate any updates with you as they become available. 

If you have any questions regarding these recent developments, please speak with your Account Executive or contact us at 1.877.787.8439 or purview@teranet.ca.

Thank you for the continued confidence you have placed in Teranet as your risk management solution provider.

What’s Happening? Canadian Housing Market

Since 2008, the federal government has made several changes to the rules for mortgages insured through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to cool the housing market. This is good because it protects our economy but can prove very challenging for independent mortgage brokers and agents as it can limit and even eliminate top selling mortgage products.

We saw 30 year amortizations disappear and loan to values on high ratio refinances reduce significantly.

Well, this last month the news sites were abuzz about what could be in store in the future for the Canadian housing market.

In October the National Post reported that the IMF reportedly warned that there may be a need for even tougher housing rules to further slow what was described as an “overvalued housing market”: http://business.financialpost.com/2014/10/07/canada-may-need-tougher-rules-to-slow-overvalued-housing-market-imf-warns.

In October, the BNN reported on how a housing slump would impact retirees; within this article were some interesting facts. Consumer debt in Canada has risen for 87% of disposable income in 1990 to 164% today! If the housing market did wain, some of your clients may find themselves in a troublesome financial predicament: http://www.bnn.ca/News/2014/10/8/How-a-housing-market-decline-could-put-Canadian-retirement-savings-at-risk.aspx.

In October the Huffington Post reported on a Royal LePage House Price Survey that found that while the average price of real estate rose, the market is showing signs of slowing down. In the article the Huffington Post quotes Phil Soper, president and CEO of Royal LePage:

“In the seven years since the Canadian housing market began its recovery from the worldwide recession, home price growth has been robust, often greater than the long-term average. We are now experiencing a natural slowing in the rate of year-over-year price appreciation, with real estate markets moderating in most parts of the country, a transition to what our agents refer to as a ‘Goldilocks market,’ one that is neither too hot, nor too cold.” 

With constant speculation over what may or may not happen in the market it can be hard to know how to adjust your plans accordingly.

You can’t plan for what you don’t know, like when the BOC will raise rates or CMHC will change their lending guidelines, but you can plan for what you do know.

Canadians are in debt – this is a reality. To help prepare your clients to be on the firmest financial footing, you can help them understand the ways that they can leverage their home equity to consolidate debt, reduce monthly payments and interest.

By leveraging tools like Purview, you can look at past clients and identify where there have been increases in property value and reductions in mortgage value to identify upsell opportunities. You can also help new clients identify accurately exactly how much equity they have which may change their re-financing plan.

No one can really predict what will happen in the Canadian Housing Market but what you can do is be prepared to adapt and work with your clients so that they are not negatively impacted by future changes.

To stay updated on recent housing trends or mortgage changes, or to find out more about everything Purview has to offer, please contact us today at 1.855.787.8439.