It’s a truism in the mortgage industry that high-producing loan originators have strong relationships with real estate agents.
Yet, a lot of loan originators are still struggling to come up with a consistent marketing approach to develop new relationships or solidify old ones.
Marketing to agents is central to the loan originator business, and it goes beyond taking a real estate agent to lunch.
How can a loan originator earn the real estate agent’s business?
One way to earn the trust of your real estate agent is to provide useful information about the state of the local market, and to be the first to provide it. It is an essential practice because it allows the loan originator to shine as an expert in the real estate agent’s market on all things housing – not only on mortgage originations, but also on housing stock, homeownership trends, borrowers and home-buyers, relocation trends, veteran needs, serving millennials, products, and other lenders in the market. These insights need to be well sourced, credible, and repeatable. Polygon Research makes tools that help loan originators get such insights quickly and confidently – HMDAVision, CensusVision, GovLoansVision, and FHAVision.
When this information is well researched and you intimately know the facts, you fortify your standing as competent, trustworthy, and you will earn your spot as a state-of-the-art expert in your local market. Once you analyze the market, you can leverage these insights multiple times to share it with real estate agents:
- Send emails with bite-size facts and then post on social media
- Produce informational marketing materials to share at lunch meetings with real estate agents.
- Special events – prepare engaging 15-minute presentations on the state of the market and trends for brown bag lunches at the realtor office or local chapters of real estate associations.