Every year, since always it seems, there are headlines warning us about interest rates. Interest rates about to rise. ‘Prepare For Interest Rate Shock’, being one of my local favourites, as the Bank Of Canada proceed to cut rates 0.25% the very next day. The main problem with (all?) the headlines and the stories is […]
Winter Is Coming! Meh, really? Seriously, why is this a constant refrain in one form or another? I attended a five day event in January 2017, and the host (who is ‘not my guru’) repeated this like a chant, over and over and over each and every day. I’d also noticed a previously optimistic, very […]
If you’re a Realtor, Broker, property buyer or seller this matters. There’s a lot happening these days, good things, bad things, and things that fall under ‘other’. This bit of news falls under the good heading, in that we’re recognizing a tragic piece of our past as a nation. But there may be a problem […]
A short mortgage story. Maybe a lesson or two gleaned, possibly even a useful strategy in dealing with challenging clients. The set up… Working with the clients for 2 yrs. 500+ emails. Countless texts. Dozens and dozens of calls… mostly in the evenings and on weekends OK, Can you guess how the story ends yet? […]
An excerpt from Chapter 77 of Be the Better Broker, Volume 3. Lenders vary. You don’t need to know every single lender’s products and guidelines to be successful. You need somewhere between three and seven lenders or lender connections. Ninety percent of your business will likely be placed with three or four lenders consistently. Although […]
An excerpt from Volume 2 of Be the Better Broker. Every interaction you have with an underwriter, a BDM, a team lead, a lender VP and so on during the processing of a file—even just in a casual conversation at a trade show—is you either building or burning bridges. Your primary goal is to recognize […]
I can recall one Mortgage Broker saying to me upon exiting the business after less than four years, “I can only conclude that people do not like me.” This was a person paying not just an economic toll, but clearly an emotional one as well. On paper this Broker had every reason to have been […]
Few among us look forward to making cold calls. We know what it’s like to be on the receiving end. When someone cold-calls me, he is intruding on my life without an invitation. He is interrupting whatever I may be doing. This can bring out a side of me that is abrupt, perhaps rude: the […]
Short Version Will the qualifying rate change the government is proposing fix runaway housing prices? No. Will it slow down the multiple offers and condition free craziness? No. Will it create a smokescreen of ‘doing something’? Perhaps. Long Version The proposed changes target only those purchasing with 20% down or more. Yes, that’s right – […]
It is time for a commission sales reality check. The first step in avoiding the alluring alternative reality of “gross commission” is being aware of its existence before you get sucked into it. Understanding the following four terms is going to be vital to your survival. Gross Production—the value of the item you are selling […]