The advice I'm about to give goes against the grain in the mortgage
business where everyone likes to advertise that they offer 1200
different loan programs for borrowers with all types of credit. I'm
going to give it anyway.
The
very best way to make your mortgage marketing successful is to
concentrate it on a very tightly defined niche and position yourself as
the expert in that niche. Borrowers aren't attracted to those one size
fits all ads and you are throwing away your money.
Here are three
niches that an FHA mortgage specialist can use to close more loans in
less time with more profit and, most importantly, happier customers that
are anxious to refer their friends and relatives.
1. First Time Home Buyers.
This
is the most obvious FHA niche market. After all, this was the reason
the FHA program was created in the first place. In spite of what you
hear in the news, a housing downturn presents the best time for smart
and well advised first time home buyers to enter the market.
The
key to marketing to first time buyers is to understand that they need a
lot of information and guidance before they trust. Study their needs in
today's market. Those needs are a little different than they were during
the boom times.
Create a free report that shows how FHA mortgages
can help meet those needs and put that home buyer in a position to
profit when real estate values start rising again - as they always do.
Create a series of follow-up letters and reports that you can send out
over time. Get their email addresses and set up an automatic series of
emails that can be sent out to them over a long period of time. Educate
them and they will trust you.
2. Manufactured Home Refinances and Purchases
This
is actually 2 niches in one and each category has slightly different
needs. They are both high on the list of the most lucrative FHA markets
that exist. This is because potential borrowers in these 2 areas have
problems that the FHA loan program provides a better solution for than
they are getting elsewhere.
Get set up with some of the lenders
still offering FHA financing on manufactured homes and become a master
at knowing what loan characteristics those lenders prefer. In spite of
tightening guidelines, this market is still huge. Locate reputable local
structural engineers and foundation contractors to help you quickly
determine whether a manufactured home qualifies for FHA financing or
what it will take to get it there.
Then, if you want to enter the
manufactured home purchase market, get in contact with manufactured home
dealers and offer them a solution to help get their homes sold. Use the
same free report techniques to market your services directly to buyers.
Use those buyers to help establish a relationship with some of those
dealers.
You can enter the manufactured home market and have fewer
parties to keep happy by locating owner financed manufactured homes in
your area. In some parts of the country, many investors bought renovated
and owner financed or lease purchased FHA qualified manufactured homes
during the housing boom of the last few years. These loans often
included very high interest rates and balloon notes which the buyer must
pay off soon. You can often locate these situations through the local
tax records. Keep in mind that if locating them was easy, this technique
wouldn't be as profitable. A mortgage originator who has mastered the
process of getting manufactured home loans approved can really help
these people out of a tough situation and get paid well doing it.
3. Cash Out Debt Consolidations - With A Twist
I
know every subprime call center on earth has been pounding these
prospects with solicitations, and taking advantage of them, for years.
Yet there is a growing group of consumers who are now realizing that
they need to get rid of the debt in their lives if they ever want to
make it through tough economic times. These people are very wary of
mortgage brokers calling them to try to lower their payments using some
sort of subprime teaser rate mortgage that traps them in a bad situation
later on.
In fact, if they watch the news much, potential
borrowers think every mortgage broker they meet is skillfully hiding his
or her horns, tail and pitchfork long enough to get that borrower's
signature on the contract selling their soul. Here is a strategy that
might help get around that predisposition.
This subset of home
owners who wish to get rid of debt as quickly as possible is already
prepared to cut back their lifestyle in order to pay off debt.
Unfortunately, a lot of their debt has crazy high interest rates. How
much better might their situation be if all that debt was refinanced
into one 15 year fixed rate mortgage. Yes, you did read that correctly.
I'm talking about probably raising their payment. However, if they
qualify I'm also talking about lowering the interest rate on that debt
so they can get it paid off without the interest eating up all the
payments they are making.
