Steve Tytler

A lot of mortgage loan originators are breathing a huge sigh of relief since mortgage rates have come back down after the big spike up last month.

But don’t get complacent!

In the stock market, this is known as a “sucker rally” … it lures you into thinking the worst is over when in reality the market is getting ready to dive again.

How long will this refi boom reprieve last?

I don’t know and I don’t care.

I’m still pushing the loan originators at our small mortgage company to focus on building Realtor relationships by helping them generate home buyer leads using our free marketing systems.

In the Seattle area, and many other housing markets around the country, there is starting to be a lot of sales activity in the low-end starter homes.

If you wait until the housing market bounces back and the Realtors don’t need your help any more to generate business you will have missed a GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY!

Let the competition fall back into “refi boom” mode …

The smart loan originators who plan to be in business for long haul are focusing on the PURCHASE loan market now more than ever.

If you are a mortgage loan originator, the rapid spike in mortgage interest rates over the past month should be a wake-up call.

Take a look at this chart showing BankRate.com’s 30-year-fixed mortgage index over the past month:

Yikes!

Sure, mortgage rates have come back down over the past couple of days but keep this in perspective.

Look at the BankRate.com 30-year-fixed mortgage index over the past year:

We are now basically back to where we were in December, before the second leg of the big mortgage rate drop kicked in.

How long will it take for the 30-year-fixed mortgage index to get back into the 6′s where we were Last October and November before the first leg of the rate drop around thanksgiving?

Who knows?

The mortgage market has been anything but stable this decade.

Here’s the BankRate.com 30-year-fixed mortgage index over the past 5 years:

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There is a marketing principle called “reciprocity” … which means that when you give somebody something of value for free they feel like they owe you something in return. It’s like when you do a favor for a  friend.  There is an unspoken agreement that the friend now “owes” you a favor if you need help in the future. You don’t have to say, “remember that I time I helped you … “  They just naturally feel obligated to help you out because you helped them out. Now is the PERFECT time for mortgage professionals to start storing up “favors” from real estate agents by helping them grow their business, so that they in turn can help you grow yours. [...]