We have seen it reported by the GSE's and several major wholesale funding sources, conforming production volume has been off by more than one-third these last couple of months, and still dropping. Accordingly, one executive speaking last month at the National Home Equity Mortgage Association's Southeastern Conference in Miami. "Brokers shifted from a high percentage of conforming to nonconforming and they did it virtually overnight," said Steve Alonso, chairman and CEO of Oak Street Bancorp in Carmel, Ind. (Oak Street does more than $2 billion in annual originations and does business with mortgage brokers in 28 states). Broker subprime business has been up at Oak Street for the past three months …," Mr. Alonso said. Many industry watchers like Steve know the subprime business will continue to strengthen as rates continue to rise; as conforming trained people start to flood the subprime world.

Is this happening to you? If it is, you'll need to focus your marketing and advertising activities, since conforming advertising can simply be one note: Rate. However, unlike prime lending, subprime customers do not want uniform conforming type standard loans, without a laser concentration on their unique needs and the benefits you can provide for them, you may find the transition difficult.

As of this writing, our latest CD Lesson - 'Newbie Resource Guide' has been the run-away best seller since we introduced it a few weeks ago. Although all of our "Secrets of The Mortgage Industry" training CD lessons have been doing pretty well, this one has really taken off! To learn more about this CD and other lessons we have available, please Click Here

For a limited time we are now providing students with their own website starter template (sorta like their own ATM), so they can hit the ground running right after class! Our next Live class session is here in Southern California, January 11. Click Here for the remainder of the semester class dates, and to learn more (maybe we can sneak you into our Dec 7th class if you act fast)!

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Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

As you make this change from simply selling ‘Rate' - to selling a different kind of loan (subprime), do you see yourself chasing down loan requests like this one too? If you are, that becomes a common activity at this point with interest rates, as they tend to cycle and rebound from previous lows.

Conforming loan providers, who traditionally are known for their flexibility, leap from the conforming side to the non-conforming side as a survival technique. Like this odd-ball loan request in our title, as they make this conversion many get bogged down with a variety of loan requests, unlike they have been trained to handle in the past. Although they're mistaken, many think that's what subprime means: "Every nutty thing out there!" So they spend their time chasing wholesalers all over town ... so ... how do you see you?

There is a considerable difference between making Loans to people (collateralized by their homes) - so they can do stuff with the money vs. financing the acquisition of real property.

Historically, in excess of 90% of Conforming loan providers are what some call "Borrower/Homebuyer Advocate" - their employment ranks swell and plummet with interest rate cycles - as home sales do the same thing. Those same (the 90+% group) folks do what may be labeled "Product Salesmen" typically (and only) during low interest rate cycles, since that's mostly all they sell - Rate.

There simply is a big mind-set difference as between 'Loans' and 'Acquisitions' - plus HOW you market is major different also. The point isn't what you DO ... it's how you IDENTIFY with what you do.

Why does that matter? Because it determines HOW you do what you do! Making loans is far less stressful, and more profitable, than financing real estate purchases. This is because, the latter includes virtually unforeseeable and unlimited complications & lots of moving parts, where the former has far less involved. What do you think? Ten times more telephone calls and necessary hand-holding on purchase transactions vs. re-fi's ... and for the same buck?

Therefore, when you consider how you'll market yourself - do you see yourself as a ‘Borrower Advocate' (chasing all over town for a funding source for them - no matter how nutty their request is), or as a ‘Product Salesmen' (selling what you have at hand with your present wholesale funding sources)? This is an important distinction for you to think through thoroughly.