So far...

That's great feedback Jennifer - THANKS! 

We would love to hear from other LO's as well as from borrowers about your early experiences in the marketplace.

JM,

I have enjoyed ZILLOW as I have used it since finding it a long time ago for personal needs.  I have enjoyed answering questions and consider that part of this "membership" our responsibility to offer credible information without "pimping ourselves". For the  most part, it has been great and there are a couple threads I have not offered the solution as the chats were going sideways and downhill.  I did already meet with a potential client.  He was what he stated with sky high scores, etc. and 20% down. He visited me personally as I only quote local. For the record, I "redisclosed" the current rate/SRP and showed him the ratesheet from the day I quoted him (7 days before & .375% lower), so I was nervous at time. Perception is reality. All went well, undestood and waiting for Contract.

I must say, last week alone proves that 5 days of movement can really lead to difficult conversations. 5.75 on Monday to 6.125 on Friday (or thereabouts) is a big deal. Glad he took it well and didn't leave you any negative feedback. But still, float it and see what happens. I like seeing feedback where it says 'lender A locked me in without even forcing me to get an appraisal'... ummmmm... Why would they do that??? Isn't the value of the property kind of IMPORTANT these days???

Hi Jennifer -

I'm new to Zillow and the Discussions.  So new in fact, I'm still waiting for Zillow to do their "independent 3rd party review" of me.  =0)  I'm curious as to how other Lenders respond to this thread.  But noticing the amount of traffic, any and all questions potential borrowers have can only enhance our business, or at least our own understanding of how borrowers are thinking.  One thing is for certain, access to mortgage information and key vocabulary is just a click away.  When I speak to clients, they know what they want already.  

Anyhow, I typically do not like to float loans.  It leaves too much room for the fluctuating market to cost you/the borrower 0.125+ in rate.  Granted it goes both ways, but if you and the borrower are already in agreeance on rates/terms, lock away!  Perhaps you have an appraiser you consistently work with and they can give you some preliminary comparables to the subject, closing the margin for error at the time of your lock.  This can help with the value concerns.

Hope this helps.

Welcome Bryan! Good luck with it, it seems like a very nice way to get clients and build a transparent referral base- all good things.

My concern is obviously with the 'declining markets' and all that great stuff we have to deal with now. I wouldn't want to get anyone's hopes up with some fictitious loan amount and locked interest rate only to come back and say 'well, the house didn't appraise out, sorry'. I'm not saying a house SHOULD be appraised before a lock, but you should have a pretty good indication of value to be safe. In other words, people shouldn't be excited over a rate-lock- it means nothing, if they don't qualify for the loan. :)

Mornin' Jennifer & Bryan,

Zillow is a great forum to educate people in our communities as the system and infrastructure is in place. My borrowe does not have property address so NOCANDO on the lock anyway and neither can anyone else, but still a little slap of reality. Some Brokers will lock without an appraisal and may have to redisclose depending on LTV, who knows.  I value my lockin and delivery percentage, so I simply make sure my borrower is committed to me first, then I lock.  I very rarely require COD for appraisal or upfront money and fortunately, I have not been burnde for that in over 15 years. JM,  you keep it real without pimping.. Good stuff.. keep it up.  This is a marathon, not a sprint.  Mortgages and Real Estate are not funny, cute or an investment of any sort curently. Realistic sound advice is what is needed to get out of this. Unfortunately, many threads or questions ask for the pie in the sky exceptions and great answers to boot.  Keep rockin.

You both make great points, validating my decision to join the Zillow community!  It's great to get feedback and differing prespectives. 

Jennifer - You're right.  What good is a lock if the borrower isn't on board or can't qualify?  If they can assist you and get some of the leg work done upfront (income, assets, solid valuation, etc.), the backside should be a breeze (underwriting/approval process). 

Martin - I'm finding Zillow to be just as you said, a great forum.  Those Lenders that are still posting and involved know that real estate is still the best bet for the long run.  We didn't run for the hills when the market went south.  Real estate is still 'where its at'!

BC,

Keep doing the right things every day and you'll build a solid foundation for being an expert in your field in your area.  Trying to capture the world doesn't work for anyone... Not ELoan, Quicken, etc...  I have had several CONV loan quotes that net 1.1% total compensation be "Declined" by "shoppers", so we can't get bent out of shape as the truth surfaces at 1 point or another in the process.  We all drink from the same wells, so it is our "margin" and potential efficiencies that affect the final price to our clients, but nobody works for free.  Keep rockin'.

Absolutely Martin! I am not going to work on a file for $200, especially not in these times. There is much more work involved, and bigger bills (ie GAS) to pay, unfortunately. If people want to low-ball so much that they are working for free, they can do that. But it seems that in the effort to be super-competetive, they forget that they need to actually make money. This isn't to say that they actually close at these rates they are quoting- but it is possible I guess. Maybe they feel that their time isn't very valuable???

By the way- my FAVORITE one today is a quote on a 1.2 million dollar purchase (20% down) and TWO lenders are quoting 5/1 ARMs at 5.625! One lender even had the audacity to state that ARM rates are much better than 30 year fixed rates. What rate sheet is he viewing, I wonder :)

Sorry, someone pointed out a mistake here- it's a 1.2 million dollar LOAN AMOUNT. After the down payment. Oops. That kinda changes things a bit, no? :)

JM,

The consumer will inevitably get what they ask for. We all want the lowest price...  Apple Stock at 1985 prices...etc, so I can't blame them for trying, but now that I am an old fart at age 43, I know that the "spread" from 2-3 different competitors for anything (paint, fences, attorneys, mortgages, realtors, etc) is within 10% of the costs for the same product or there is something wrong.  Nobody gets/delivers any loans below cost and stays in business.  Not me, you, Andrew or anyone. We feel "cheated" when a consumer hits decline on a tightly priced deal and you see what some other BS was fed, but when I met with my prospect last FRI, he had jsut left another Lender/Broker's office and he received a GFE (ZERO/ZERO) 30 year fixed and the beginning number on the quote was not a 5. I am not a smoke-n-mirror Broker, so quoting may be a hamstring to me upfront, but it is about localizing Zillow to my radius and answering a few questions here and there.  Keep doin what you do.

I have given 99 quotes so far and I have one deal going to docs Monday and I have had several great interactions and real conversations.  What I have found is that about 80% of the quotes remain active; about 15% are reviewed; and then 5% contact you. 

Once we get through the initial trust factor, I see the consumer settling down and getting to the real reason for the inquiry.  Most are hard-working, intelligent people looking for a good deal.  Once the process starts and we get over the commoditization of the mortgage process, we then get into the real "value proposition" and what, at least in my experience, I can do for them that goes way beyond rate. 

For me, I am settling into a routine.  Certainly I don't get to all the quotes in my state, but I can certainly see the benefit of doing a great job, albeit working for a very low fee, to generate a raving fan, advocate who hopefully brags about the experience and the advise and not so much the low price they paid (lol).  My kids need shoes too. haha

Good luck all! :)

Jennifer - I am not trying to throw stones here, but my companies jumbo/super jumbo pricing as of today with an 80 ltv 2.5 mil loan amount  is this

3/1 arm 5.27%

5/1 arm 5.72%

7/1 arm 6.12%

10/1 arm 6.38%

That quote you are bashing isnt far off! 

What investor has those rates- Care to share? And is that at par? Points? APR?

Oh, I found you. You say you price loans at par- do you charge points on every deal then? Or does your company simply do enough volume that you make your money when you resell the loans?

I would question 80% LTV at 1.2 Million but I have a portfolio 5/1 ARM that allows loan amounts to 3 million @ 5.375%.  The rate doesn't seem out of line and I have seen stranger things with loan to values.

3 mil with an LTV of 55% perhaps. All I'm saying is 1.2 Mil, at 80% LTV+ IS NOT going to happen at 5.625%. 7 year ARM or not, I just don't see it. Again, if someone could point out an actual investor that has that kind of deal, I'd be interested. Otherwise, I'm sticking to my story here.

Jennifer, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for an answer. Maybe he thought he was talking to one of his prospects. 

Mike,

I think Zill is doing well here and I too have a routine with it.. win-lose-or draw.  I repsond to a few quotes/day  (20 mile radius of my home) 720 + O/O or 2nd home only.  The others, they cna be done, but my reward is no fees.. And no, I'm not playing with numbers either.  The funny part is that I have been declined so beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but I think this type of forum allows all of us the chance to meet/greet and shine if we choose to do so. I like answering some buyer inquiries and would love to offer some help insight in the RE section, but they are looking for some of the dumbest stuff and exceptions and just garbage..  I'll stick with the survivors from the Titanic (the ones in the lifeboat).  "Never give up Jack, Never Give Up", but Jack drowned anyway.  Wouldn;t it be more funny if we had the borrowers have to bid and show their worthiness to all of us instead of the way it is.  That wold be a riot.... "No.... I;m delcining to bid on you... 795 is not quite high enough..."  Keep rockin'  I like your style.

Tell you what Jennifer - I assume your a broker - if you have any deals with good credit and assets (12 months+reserves) for deals over $2mil - call or emial me - ill get you signed up with my company and then youll see how real these rates are. 

Jennifer - I see ur from just north of where I am in NY  - ever hear of Luxmac? My company just bought them out - that is now our jumbo dept. Did you ever use them? That is where my rates come from on jumbos. 

Ahha. Yes, I am familiar with LuxMac. I am not currently a broker though, but that doesn't mean we can't do business with you guys. Where can I get a correspondent/broker package?

Two questions for you, Ken.

How do you make money if you give your clients the par rate?

And, how do you make money if you give your clients the par rate? :)

@Mike -

That's good news, thanks for the feedback.

Note that the 15% review rate is misleading. We made the mistake of sending complete quotes to borrowers via email so we're not counting those quotes that are reviewed by email. We'll be removing much of the quote detail fro the email in the next few weeks - you should see a dramatic increase in the number of quotes reviewed.

@Martin -

Nice strategy! I'll be sure to hit you up when Zillow IPO's and I can finally retire to a second home in Key West! ;-)

Jennifer email me ill get you a broker pkg. and I make money on volume and referral business. If I take care of borrower A - i hope that next month there is borrower A1, A2 and so on. Im still closing about 10-15  a month so i make my money on volume rather than eating on just one big loan a month.

Indymac bank still does superjumbo to 2.0 mil loan amount.

Interesting reading your replies. I felt as among fellow warriors rather than ruthless competition.  Now back to the requests ;)

If you make 0 profit per loan volume is irrelavent.

Ken, I asked around and Luxmac isn't very popular for some reason. I guess if you are quoting the par rate, that kind of makes sense. Still don't know about 80% LTV though. 5/1 ARM, 5.625%, no points, 1.2 mil, 80% LTV- show me your rate sheet if that exists. According to yours above, the 751 is at 5.72% at par! So, that kinda proves my point. Why are people quoting BELOW par rates????

751=5/1 oops :)

KV,

For someone that is closing 10-15 loans a month how in the world do you find the time to have made 700 quotes??? I am closing maybe 4-5 loans a month and don’t have time to go into each lead, read what the scenario is and then make a accurate quote. I just do not have enough time in my day to handle my existing loans and prospects and then accurately quote 50 or 60 zillow quotes a day.

Am I the only one here that would struggle to do this? I just don't see how anyone could get this done by themselves.

uum all i do is sell my deals and get docs in - my processor takes the loan from that point to the closing table. if the client has questions i speak with them but once the loan is sold and the docs are in, i dont do the paperwork from there on.