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| Thu, 10-21-2004 - 10:26am |
I haven't really gone much into my home business because I haven't actually decided if I'm staying with it or not.
I'm hitting a brick wall. I'm doing home loans and right now, I need business. The company is established now for 13 years and has offices all over the states, but I'm one many that does this at home until/unless an office is a good option for this area. Right now, it isn't.
I'm having to visit realtors, banks, etc. to get business and I'm getting nowhere. The realtors seem to think I'm asking for their big business, which I'm not. I'm asking for their sub-prime (not so great credit) clients that banks have turned down for some reason. People that I can try to get approved thru one of our programs since we work with lower credit scores. I know these agencies have clients like this. It's overwhelming the amount of people you can't approve due to poor credit, so why am I not getting that thru to them? Especially since I say it several times.
So here is another option I've been given. Call homeowners that are selling their houses themselves. Offer them the chance to have only people that are pre-approved come view their house. They'd give the potential buyer my number when they call for an appointment and I would take their info and run their credit/income information to see how much they qualify for. If they do income/credit qualify, they are referred back to the owners for an appointment. If not, I refer them to an agent to view homes in their range. That way, no one wastes their time. The homeowner only shows to SERIOUS buyers that CAN buy the home and the others will still get to view homes, but in their price range so they don't fall for a home and find out they can't qualify. See? Not a bad deal.
But I'm hesitant to call. I hate cold calling. I feel so intrusive. Also, I'm afraid that the owner will feel like they are insulting people if they ask for a pre-qualification before viewing their home. It's not an insult at all if people just think of it this way...you know for sure what price range you can afford and that helps you to look at the homes that fit your needs, not the ones you just think are pretty. And people all the time, myself included, are surprised at what they can actually qualify for.
My question is....would you participate if someone like me called and offered you the chance to only show homes to those that are pre-qualified? Would you feel insulted by someone asking you to pre-qualify before getting an appointment?
I'm just trying to build this thing and need honest feedback so I know if I am the one to do this or to move onto something else.
Mel

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Honestly....I probably wouldn't. NOT because I think it's a bad idea. But, because I will not accept cold calls (or even door to door's which I got last night at home!) of any kind at home or work. I am innundated with them here, to the point where if there's even a brief pause (indicating that the call is initiated by a dialer system) I hang up immediately. Same goes for the "hello?" in the nasaly Brooklyn accent that must be mandatory for toner sales people. I hang up immediately. Because I get anywhere from 10 - 20 crappy sales/solicitation calls a day.
I am sorry I couldn't be more encouraging. I am just sick of solicitation calls in my own home.
I hate those calls too, which leads me to believe I need another approach. My boss and I are trying to figure out something better to make people feel more comfortable with me and what I'm offering them. He's supposed to email me the stuff he discovered at some realtor's offices and it is amazing what he's come up with that we're not doing that we should be doing. So we'll see if it works.
Thanks for the honesty. I hate cold calls too. And I see what you mean about the prerequisite for telemarketers. Nasaly voices or strong accents that you can't understand. And I hang up too when I hear the "Hello?" Those pauses after my saying "hello" 3 times puts me on fire!!!
Mel
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Mel, is there any way for you to get ahold of mailing lists of potential clients through various organizations or services?
That's not such a bad idea. I have the addresses of most of the For Sale By Owner homes from the newspaper. I can mail to them an offer.
As for the banks, I have been in contact with one in particular because I know the VP. He said any apps that don't clear their standards unless they are absolutely beyond financing (really high debt to income ratio, VERY low credit score) will be sent directly to me to see what I can do.
Banks are kinda touchy subjects because they automatically feel like you're trying to take their business and you have to find a very delicate, but firm way of assuring them that you want their rejects, not the ones they CAN help. So I'm having to pick and chose the ones to approach and not being from here, it's harder than it would be in my home town.
This is a big real estate town, so there is a bunch of competition for loan officers here. I have a rough road ahead of me.
I appreciate any suggestions that you all can give. Just so I don't have to call people at home. The visits to the agencies are the only way to get my face and name out there on that front, but the other part canbe done a variety of ways.
Thanks!
Mel
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Mel:
My idea was what you and Maggie said -- make up a mailing and mail it to all the people selling their home by owner. I think mail reaches more people than calls do because everyone hates telemarketers. Plus, with something in writing with your name and phone number on it, they can always save it for future reference or pass it along. As for the potential buyers, I'm not quite sure how you could find them, but if you do, mail is the way to go. Good luck.
Donna
I would definetly agree about getting some flyers out about what you can do!
BEEN TURNED DOWN FOR A MORTGAGE BY THE BANK?
I CAN HELP!
I have been helping people like you, with no/little/poor credit get the financing needed to purchase your own home.
Also having a few testimonials of those you have helped would be good. Having private sellers send potential clients your way may or may not work. I think the target should be on the buyer, not the seller. Approaching those who are wanting to buy. Get your add into the lower income places- like the subsidized housing areas and community centres. Those are the people who would be needing the break, so to speak. It's not going to be a lot of the affluent areas/ people who have lower/ bad credit. It's going to be the single parents, the divorced parents, the newly weds, those starting out with young kids.
I wish you luck!
Alison
I would never talk to a sales person over the phone as a consumer. I might respond to a flyer on the door or in the mailbox, though.
As an aside, I would be open to a cold call regarding doing a reciprocal type thing from someone who is in the same industry but not a competitor.
Did you ever think of offering to send them prospective clients to list houses if they send hardship credit cases?
I don't think you would need a lot of people - just a core of 2 or 3 to start.
There may be some good networking groups through your chamber of commerce or local women's groups or churches? You could also respond to flyers that are mailed to you from realtors in your area? Also, I know of people who give seminars on how to apply for a mortgage or check credit and then they offer services of getting a mortgage with lower credit scores.
I hope this helps - glad to see you busy with this. You seem like you are very kind and good with people so I am sure you will do good with this - sometimes getting started is the hardest part!!
I would not be insulted by a prequalification requirement. When I was searching for homes last year, most real estate agents wouldn't show you anything unless you were already pre-approved, not just pre-qualified. So, I went and got pre-approved and then they were all knocking on my door.
I think if I was trying to sell my house on my own without the assistance of a realtor I would welcome this service. But I'm not sure I'd be convinced to use it over the phone.
I think the only bad idea about your plan is the cold calling thing. Although I haven't read all of the other responses, I can see that many have already mentioned this, so I would just agree that another form of contact is better than cold calling.
My employer and I came up with a better approach than the cold calls, especially because I'm not comfortable with it. But also because people get home and want to settle in and not receive annoying sales calls at dinner time or during family time. I am also going to do the flyers in the mail because I like that suggestion here. I am also doing flyers to take to the agent's offices. I am not only making appointments with brokers, but also the agents in a sales meeting type atmosphere. I just come to the sales meeting and pitch my product so they all hear what I can do for them.
My employer and I spoke a long time today about a new way to get the business. I was doing it all wrong. But he is responsible for that error since he told me to say what I did. I was not giving them reasons to take our business. I said nothing that was in it for THEM. Maybe a couple of details, but not near the amount of benefits they'd have by coming our way. And I knew all these things yet never mentioned them because he gave me a brief summary of what to say.
The big thing I have to work on is my eye contact. In a nutshell...it sucks. I have a tendency to giggle when I am looked at in the eye. I get embarassed. I feel as if the person is looking right thru me into my soul or something. It's a weird feeling. But to be taken seriously, I MUST be able to face the individual with confidence as if I know my work.
I do get to offer them the knowledge that I am new to this and am trying to learn all I can so I can help them better. I am encouraged to do so. So I feel more confident about this now and think it might just work.
Now I can get this going and finally be proud of myself. I appreciate the comments and all the feedback. I welcome anything else you all can offer.
Mel
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