Sales Lead Generation Guide » Mortgage Leads

Now Is The Best Time To Purchase A Mortgage Broker Lead

Jes — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:55:18 +0000

The world of mortgage marketing is a constantly evolving one. It has gone through more changes in the last couple of years than most industries have seen in their lifetime. For an individual loan officer or mortgage broker to be successful through all this turmoil, he or she needs to have very large levels of sales lead generation.

Mortgage broker leads become much more important than the sales leads of other industries, because they serve more purpose than just putting a broker in contact with a prospective client. The rules and guidelines of mortgage lending change on a very regular basis, and do so more than any other industry out there. This makes it very hard for a loan officer to be able to know exactly how the underwriting process works for a particular niche of product. The only way to learn how changes affect lending is to actually go through the process of getting a loan approved under the new guidelines.

This makes for a large problem, because the only way for a broker to do this is to have a very large pipeline and loans in many different scenarios. This is why mortgage leads are so much more important that life insurance leads or other types of sales lead.

A mortgage broker who is running a good campaign of purchasing mortgage refinance leads will be in contact with a much greater number of clients on any given day than one who is not. This greater level of contact will lead to a greater level of lead generation, and this will, in turn, lead to a much greater knowledge and understanding of recent underwriting guideline changes.

The traditional forms of lead generation are still important for a successful mortgage broker, and need to be in place to compliment a good sales lead campaign. But, without the purchase of internet leads, telemarketer leads, and trigger leads to go along with email campaigns, postcards, mailers, and past client follow up, a mortgage broker stand no chance for success.

Mortgage refinance leads are prevalent enough on the internet that it is easy to find a lead generation company that has strong pricing. If a broker tailors a good internet lead campaign, return on investment is not only strong, but also happens very quickly. In a matter of weeks, a broker will start to see results.

If you have not made the switch to mortgage broker leads, it is not too late. Make the decision now and watch your pipeline grow exponentially.

Exclusive Mortgage Leads Are Your Best Bet To Increase Your Business In The Upcoming Year

Jes — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:15:26 +0000

Let’s face it. Sales lead generation is not as easy as it once was for mortgage professionals. The problem is not the same as it used to be, though. The mortgage market used to be flooded with brokers, bankers, and loan officers. It was almost guaranteed that every potential client that you talked to, even referrals, were going to be talking to another loan officer as well.

In order to find success in the boom market, lead generation had to be tailored to this kind of high-level competition. In those times, it became a simple numbers game. A good loan officer would buy the largest batches he could of mortgage leads and refinance leads and blow through them as fast as possible. The idea was that the more people you talked to, the higher the likelihood that they would choose your prospective loan over some of the others that they were shopping.

This was a good approach, and it found a lot of people success. In a time where hundreds of thousands of homeowners had higher rates than what were available, there were hundreds of thousands of refinance leads available.

These borrowers are still here. As of Friday, mortgage rates for a thirty year fixed rate on the FHA program were down to 4.5%. This is the lowest they have ever been. Despite the foreclosure crisis and the lending crisis, there are still many homeowners looking to refinance.

The difference now, however, is that there are not nearly as many loan officers or mortgage bankers left to compete with. If you have made it through the down times, you know that it just is not the same as it once was. This is a good thing for you. It now becomes a situation where you can go into ever conversation with a new lead feeling confident that the broker up the street is not calling them as well.

The problem is that, unlike before, most of these clients are going to be people that you cannot help. Between the tightening of lending guidelines and the serious recession we are currently in, there just are not nearly as many qualified borrowers left. So what do you do?

There really is only one answer. In this type of mortgage economy, you are going to make your best money from an exclusive mortgage lead. These borrowers have already been screened, so you know that you can help them. More importantly, however, is the fact that they are not going to be talking to anyone but you. These are the leads that will cost you less work to convert, and will allow you to have a much higher average fee as well.

Free Mortgage Leads Are Not Imaginary

Jes — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:50:03 +0000

There are mortgage leads around every corner of the internet. You can find them on search engines, in broker forums, and even in monthly periodicals. Most brokers assume that the only leads worth even considering are the most expensive ones, but this simply is not the case.

There are many different types of sales leads, and specifically, you can find a mortgage lead for every budget. You can get anything from a telemarketer live transfer lead all the way down to a free mortgage lead on a list of old clients.

The common misconception is that the only type of lead generation that is even worth looking into are the double verified generation, or the telemarketer lead. However, this is not true. The main thing to keep in mind is that all of the leads available have the potential to be great leads. It just depends on how you work them.

Unlike MLM leads or insurance leads, mortgage leads come in many different forms. The trick to maximizing your return is to know how to work each form. You will need to utilize a different strategy for double verified leads, live transfers, and free mortgage leads.

Double verified leads typically are delivered once daily in batches of around 50 leads. Typically, they’ll come late in the afternoon of the day that they were confirmed to be good leads. The number one thing to remember is that those clients are interested today and there is a very good chance that they will not be so hot to refinance come tomorrow. If this is your lead source, you need to tailor your work schedule around the leads. If they are coming late in the day, you need to set your work hours to go into the night, as you need to contact as many of those clients as you can on that day.

With live transfers, there is really only one approach. The number that is set up for the live transfer must be your cell phone, and you simply have to be available around the clock to answer that phone. These leads are very interested, right now. However, with every passing minute, that interest fades. To capitalize, you have to be right there to turn that interest into a loan application.

With free leads, the approach is not at all the same. With the other two types of lead, the important factor is time. With free leads, it is all a numbers game. The only way to properly utilize these leads is with an auto-dialer machine. You need to plug the numbers in and set a daily routine of calling them every single day. Typically, these are older leads, which is not necessarily a bad thing. This typically means that the clients have had enough time to get denied at a lender or two. If you can step in and offer them help with their credit, or at least a good ear, they will quickly become as hot as they were when they were initially double verified or live transferred leads.

A good loan officer knows not to put all of his eggs in one basket. You need to diversify your portfolio of lead sources. If you can properly utilize all three types of mortgage leads, you’ll be well on your way to lending success.

To Increase Your Pipeline, Mortgage Broker Leads Are The Way to Go

Jes — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:46:27 +0000

As much as you would like to think otherwise, your pipeline could always use improvement. Regardless of how large it is, there is no accounting for lender fallout and clients backing out. With the onset of trigger leads, every client in your pipeline is a potential client for another broker.

It is too easy to fall into habits, whether good or bad. A successful loan originator is aware of this fact and will use it to his advantage. He will take steps to ensure that the habits he is forming are ones that lead to higher production. Habits like constantly maintaining contact with clients in the pipeline, actively calling past clients, and time blocking are great examples of good habits that will lead to success.

However, for every good habit that a loan officer can fall into, there are just as many, if not more bad habits that can hinder him from moving to the next level. You know what a lot of these habits are. Nevertheless, one that few actually think about is the habit of becoming comfortable with a certain sized pipeline.

The idea is that once your pipeline reaches a certain level, you will stop working at lead generation and instead opt to babysit the files you currently have in processing. This invariably leads to faster closings, but it also leads to the classic scenario of roller coaster months for a loan officer. Don’t worry, though. There is a simple fix.

Hooking up with good mortgage lead brokers will eliminate this problem outright. The idea is not to periodically purchase a mortgage broker lead, work it, and then purchase another mortgage lead. The idea here is to commit to a long-term agreement for consistently receiving sales leads.

Mortgage leads work differently than insurance leads. Life insurance leads require a lot of work prior to even signing up a client. With good mortgage leads, this is not the case. A simple credit screen and borrower workup will quickly let you know if this is a client that you can close now or if it is one to add to the contact book for later down the line.

But, the important thing about this type of agreement is that the leads will never stop coming. Therefore, regardless of the size of your pipeline, you’ll still have to answer the phone and gain new clients. Very quickly, you will evolve to the new situation, and in no time at all, your pipeline will grow to a level that you have never seen before.

Mortgage Sales Leads Are Easy To Find

Jes — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:37:08 +0000

Everyone Knows That Mortgage Sales Leads Are Easy To Find, But What Other Leads Are Out There?

Mortgage brokers and loan officers have it easy. There are many mortgage lead providers out there. For a broker who has decided to expand his business, the search for good mortgage leads is not a hard one.

However, what about sales professionals in other businesses? The good news is that leads are just as readily available for many different sales fields, but they just are as prevalently known about.

Sales lead generation is a unique process. If you’ve set up a network for lead generation of a certain type of leads, there is a very good chance that you will get a lot of “noise” in your lead lists. That “noise” is actually smaller lists of very qualified sales leads for different functions.

Therefore, any good lead generation company will recognize this in the early stages of their business, and as a result will create partner lead generation pipelines focusing on other areas of interest. What this means to you is that it is not very hard for you to find good, qualified MLM leads or insurance leads.

If you search around and come across a company selling sales leads, there is a good chance that their primary focus will be on mortgage leads. Nevertheless, they will, more than likely, also have great lists of sales leads for other industries like life insurance, auto insurance, and even MLM seekers.

Many people have the feeling that it is not a good idea to buy an MLM lead from a mortgage lead company, or an insurance lead from an MLM lead company. However, the truth is that all of these companies are basically the same thing.

A company that has honed their lead generation skills well enough to offer strong lists of sales leads in any field will be able to easily translate those skills to any other field that that they attack. It really is in your best interest to purchase your insurance leads from a company that has a proven record of accomplishment, even if it is in mortgage leads or MLM leads.

The companies that have survived the downturn in the economy have done so because they have mastered their trade. These are the ones that you want to work with. So, put aside your misgivings. Find any company that has shown success at lead generation, in any field, and buy your new sales leads from them.

Internet Mortgage Leads Are Your Ticket To a Stronger Pipeline

Jes — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:26:20 +0000

We all have our own tried and true means for lead generation. We have spent a lot of time honing our skills and perfecting our craft. We all have systems in place that work. But, unless we plan on going out of business, we cannot fear change.

It is so very easy to get into the habit of thinking that you are doing everything right and that your systems cannot be improved on. But, it simply is not true. No matter how well crafted your lead generation and contact management are, there is always room for improvement.

Sometimes, it makes sense to stop and rethink your strategies. Other times, it is imperative that you do. This is one of those times. It is certain that you have either found that within the last year your pipeline has shrunk or that you have had to work considerably harder to keep it filled to a similar level as what you are used to. This isn’t caused boy fault of your own, but rather, is caused by both the changes in the economy and the changes in mortgage guidelines.

If you are still originating loans, then you are a strong originator and have made it through one of the worst twelve-month periods that our industry has ever seen. But, you aren’t out of the woods yet. The big changes coming to the FHA program in January are going to make it even harder to close loans. So, you’ve got to do something to supplement your current lead source.

Buying internet mortgage leads is that something. In order to stay afloat, you are going to need to talk to more clients than you ever have before. And, the best method to do that is to look into buying mortgage leads.

An internet mortgage lead, unlike others like insurance leads and life insurance leads are very easy leads to work with. You are not the only one feeling the burn of the recession; homeowners are as well. When you are talking to a mortgage lead, you are talking to someone that needs and very much wants your help.

There will be a lot of mortgage leads that you cannot help. But, that’s not the point. At some point, you will be able to help them, so they are all good additions to your contact book. But, most importantly, these will be leads that do not take any more effort or time than your current lead sources.

If you look to the future and start making good decisions now, like buying internet mortgage leads, you’ll find that you can thrive in this down market just as well as you were when the economy was booming.

Reverse Mortgage Leads Are Your Entry to the Next Level of Origination

Jes — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:20:45 +0000

It is not news that it’s become more difficult to get a borrower approved. The programs that used to be there for you don’t just have tighter underwriting guidelines. They don’t even exist anymore.

With the death of Sub-Prime lending, a gap was filled by the FHA program. The FHA program had high LTVs, no credit score requirements, and most importantly, had amazing interest rates. But, this has all changed. A cash out mortgage refinance is now limited to 85 percent LTV. Almost all of the FHA banks have implemented at least a 620 score minimum. But, most frightening is the new adoption of the HVCC guidelines. Come January, FHA loans are going to be just as hard as any other loan out there to get approved.

But, this isn’t the end. There is still a great customer that has almost certainly been overlooked by you up until now: the reverse mortgage lead. The problem in the industry right now is not the mortgage leads. There are still as many available customers as there have ever been, there just aren’t the programs to get them approved. But, the guidelines for reverse mortgages haven’t changed at all.

These mortgages are not only a great service to homeowners, but they are incredibly easy to close. For the most part, the processing will be handled almost entirely by the bank itself. You are able to make strong fees on them with minimal work. But, the problem with them is lead generation.

This is not an easy market to tap into. A borrower must be at least 62 years old in order to qualify for a reverse mortgage. By this phase of someone’s life, typically, they have already found all the professionals that they rely on. If you aren’t already that professional, it is going to be very hard to become him.

But, fear not! It’s almost certain that the same companies you have been buying your refinance leads from also sell reverse mortgage leads. And, rest assured, these are good leads. Typically, these are not internet shoppers. These clients have expressed an interest because they actually have one, and they will be happy to hear from you.

So, call your account executive and ask them if they can walk you through the process of originating reverse mortgages. It will be one of the best decisions you will make in your originating career.

Tips For Mortgage Lead Generation

Jes — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:10:40 +0000

The tightening of lending guidelines and the elimination of almost every wholesale lending program has certainly changed the wholesale mortgage world. But, this is not the beginning of the end like so many brokers and loan officers are thinking. In fact, this is a potential golden age of mortgage origination. But, in order for you to be a part of this change in a positive way (garnering greatly increased production) instead of a negative way (finding a new career), you are going to need to implement a mortgage lead generation system.

In order to survive this transition, you need to first remember that while there are less programs to fit borrowers in to, there are still just as many people out there as there have ever been who are in need of mortgage services. This may not sound like novel information, but the effect is essential. If you want to maintain a constant pipeline, you have to stop thinking in the short term. You have to start thinking that every single person you talk to is going to get a new mortgage at some point in the future.

This is the key. Even though you can’t get a borrower approved for anything right now, they are still your customers. And, if you handle them properly, they will stay your customers for as long as you are in the business, even if you’ve never been able to get them approved.

You need to maintain bi annual connection with each and every person that you talk to. It’s the easiest thing in the world to do. Just make an Outlook file on them, and set remembers to call them six months down the line. With this attitude, you’ll realize that every lead is a good lead.

So, you know that you want them all, and you’re now ready for mortgage leads generation. What do you do now? First things first, you need to make a website. And, you need to make it a good one. In the modern world, internet mortgage lead generation is your best bet of reaching the highest number of customers. With a good website and the proper mortgage lead generation software, you’ll be able to eliminate the need to ever have to purchase mortgage leads.

A lead generation mortgage lead is a lead that you will have with you as long as you are a loan officer. If managed properly, this lead will cease to be a lead at all, and instead be a customer for life.

The Best Return on Your Investment is a Mortgage Lead

Jes — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:15:40 +0000

They take a lot of work, but purchased mortgage leads are the best thing available for quick returns. If you’ve been in the mortgage business for any amount of time, you know that it’s not like it used to be. But why is that?

Is it because people don’t have financing needs anymore? Of course it isn’t. There are just as many people now in need of new mortgage financing as there were in the peak of the last refinance boom. The major difference is that the loan programs to get them all approved are no longer there. But, there are still plenty of loans that are moving along full steam ahead.

With the decline in sub-prime lending, something had to take its place. Between FHA loans, commercial loans, and reverse mortgages, there are still a lot of opportunities to help a borrower out of a bad spot. But, you can’t help these borrowers out if you aren’t talking to them.

Mortgage lead generation should be the easiest part of your business. 85% of all loan officers did not renew their licenses last year. But, there aren’t less people in the market for mortgage financing. So, why aren’t you talking to more clients than you used to? The answer is because you aren’t buying exclusive mortgage leads.

Mortgage leads aren’t like they used to be. At our peak, there were almost as many mortgage brokers and loan officers as there were borrowers. It was almost impossible to speak to any customer who hadn’t already been solicited by five other loan officers. But, there just aren’t enough of us left for this to happen anymore. A mortgage loan lead now is something completely different from what it once was.

If you buy commercial loan leads, the chances are incredibly slim that you’ll be competing against anyone else. These borrowers will be competing for you to get them approved. Absolutely anything you can do to help will create a client for life. Reverse mortgage leads will not only bet great mortgage loan leads in and of themselves, but will actually turn into a marvelous referral source on their own right.

If you aren’t already, and if you aren’t happy with your current level of output, you need to be buying mortgage leads. Within the first month, you’ll find yourself with a bigger pipeline than you can remember having.

Are Mortgage Leads Worth the Money?

Jes — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:33:15 +0000

If you have spent any time trying to work with realtors and hope for referrals, then you have put thought into the question of mortgage loan leads. Are they worth the cost? What kind of return will I see? Am I better off sticking with referral business?

Well, the short answer is yes. They are worth the cost. However, to make them work for you, you’re going to need to really commit yourself. A mortgage lead doesn’t work the same way that a customer referral or a realtor referral does.

For the typical loan officer, mortgage lead generation consists of calling past clients or calling realtors and asking for referrals. When those referrals come through, it is a slow process of soft selling, as the clients probably feel trust for you, because they were referred from a friend or someone they trust. With a mortgage loan lead, you must not let a minute waste. The minute that you get the leads, whether they are exclusive mortgage leads or if they are being shopped to other brokers as well, you need to get right on them. Every wasted minute that you don’t call is another minute that the customer has a chance to find other financing options.

The other big thing to remember is that you must be diligent. Many times, you will not reach the customer on the first phone call. In fact, in some cases it will take weeks of calling before you finally get contact with the customer. Therefore, it’s important to have some sort of contact management system in place. You need a daily remember to call the lead, and you need to take notes each day.

Once you’ve gotten in contact with the customer, they will be like every other mortgage lead that you’ve generated on your own. If you have a polished sales approach that has worked for you in the past, it will work here as well. You just need to get over the initial contact barrier.

Whether you are buying purchase leads, or debt consolidation leads, or commercial mortgage leads, or reverse mortgage leads, it will all be the same. Do your work, and do it right, and you will find a high level of success. Success with increasing your bottom dollar or profits is at the utmost importance. I hope this information was useful to you. Please use our Search feature to search for more articles.