John Walsh is the president of Total Mortgage Services.
1. Focus on the Client’s Best Interest – Real estate sales and lending is a service business. Realtors and lenders serve the buyers of residential real estate. By focusing on the best interests of these mutual clients, Realtors and lenders can best be assured that the transaction will close and will close on time. When problems develop during the mortgage loan approval and real estate closing process, it is usually due to one party or the other placing their needs above that of the client. When both parties seek to satisfy the needs of their shared client above all, most problems will be averted.
2. Teamwork Wins Championships – Michael Jordan had a tremendous quote about the importance of working together. He said, “Talent wins games, but teamwork wins championships.” If you want to be the most successful Realtor or mortgage originator possible you have to work with internal and external teammates to accomplish the goal. Instead of viewing each other as the opposition and trying to prove your superiority by demanding special treatment, view one another as teammates, along with your mutual client, who all share the goal of a satisfying result during your “season” together.
3. Be the Best You that You Can Be – Since teamwork is so crucial to the success of a Realtor/lender relationship, then it is vital that each party be the best Realtor (or lender) that they can be. Teams are made of specialists with particular skills in certain areas of the task at hand. In football, you may have specialists at passing or catching or kicking. In business you may have managers, visionaries or sales specialists. The best teams have specialists in all the key positions, so that they excel in every aspect of their endeavor. In the common endeavor of closing real estate transactions, Realtors and lenders must be the very best at what they do. If they focus on the fundamentals of their task and trust others to do their part, the team can achieve great things.
4. Speak the Truth with Care – The most common reason for a home closing process going awry is poor communication. No one wants to be the bearer of bad news, yet failing to set realistic expectations and setting unrealistic timelines does no one in the process a service. Realtors and mortgage originators must speak the truth to each other and to their mutual client, but do so a caring manner. Nothing shuts people down more than a feeling that those that are supposedly working on their behalf are over-promising and under-delivering.
5. Never Forget the Goal – If the goal is earning a commission check, then the results of a residential real estate closing will be failure. The proper goal is to get, as smoothly and at the low a cost as possible, the mutual client into the home that furthers their personal and financial goals. When this goal is met, other benefits, far more valuable than a single commission check, will accrue to the Realtor and mortgage originator involved. Potential future referrals have significant financial value beyond the single transaction of the moment and the professional satisfaction that comes from helping others better their lives makes work meaningful and sustaining.
John Walsh is the President of Total Mortgage Services, an expanding mortgage banker. Walsh founded Total Mortgage Services in 1997 with a customer-centric approach and a mission of responsible lending. John Walsh can be reach at jwalsh@totalmortgage.com; for more information on Total Mortgage Service, please visit http://www.totalmortgage.com.