Interest rates dropped after the Fed's Minutes were released. Rates are lower than they were 16-months ago, fueling a rise in mortgage re-finance applications for lenders.
With this comes new activity and false hope that the phones will continue to ring and paychecks will continue to flow through January.
But what about after January? With the Feds concerned about a global slow down and an increasingly strong US dollar, we have to wonder if this will affect US consumers and the US economy. Some forecast that stocks will remain flat in 2015 and others that we may see a mild dip.
If there's any truth to any of this, loan officers need to keep a balancing act between refinance activity and new purchase business. You do not know where the market will go at this juncture. Don't think that your realtor referral source won't notice you are not in her or his office asking for business - in fact, they will think you're not there and that you're making money while they are not selling houses. And, that will fuel jealousy and annoyance that you really only want their business and nothing more (which of course is true, but who wants to face that reality when the chips are down?) and they will cut you off.
So, balance your sales approach - - take the re-finance business and give the best service you can so those folks can and will refer you to their friends seeking to re-finance. In fact, hand them three business cards and ask them to refer three friends.
And, if one of those friends is house shopping, refer them right back to your Realtor who is closing on fewer homes today then he/she was closing just a few months ago. The referral back will pay in huge dividends going forward
The Funding Source Syracuse
