Sounds a bit like my last couple of days. Got a call Tuesday for one yesterday with a seller who was on his way back from Asia on a 12 hour flight and wouldn't be reachable until the morning, when he landed at LAX. They wanted to close same day, but I couldn't confirm anything. Thankfully, he responded to my text in just enough time for me to make the appointment and scan everything back. [He gave me some pages to add to the docs and my ScanSnap was having issues with different thickness of paper. Had to scan 5 times to get it to work. Only when we're in a hurry, right?)
Had another one yesterday "time TBD" where we had trouble reaching the borrower. Turns out the phone numbers on his 1003 were a bit confused. What was listed on my confirmation as mobile was a home number (which no one answered and it never went to voice mail), and what was listed as his home was a business office, but he works out of his home. I played sleuth and left messages for him everywhere I could find to no avail. Fortunately, LO helped us finally connect and I was still able to fit him in and make the drop - barely. I was mentally ready to be annoyed with this guy, but turns out his wife is seriously ill. He was easily distracted, but he was so attentive and sweet to her, that all was immediately forgiven!
And while that was going on, borrowers for another one what was originally scheduled for noon today, kept asking to reschedule, which we finally did for later this evening - at a different location. I'll spare you the details, but it involved lots of checking with client, since first request was to change the day, which, as feared, would have caused issues.
I'm sure there's nothing new about all this to anyone who has been at this for a while. It kind of goes with the territory. [This kind of craziness is a stark contrast to the GNW work I do!  ] The takeaway (especially for newbies) is that there's a lot of time involved in all this juggling, and it can often mean that we turn down work because we think we're booked only to have that "booked" appointment get canceled or rescheduled. We should allow for this when setting fees! Otherwise, we could find ourselves finishing the day with less earnings that we expected or might have had. [I know that Yoli gets this and acts accordingly!]
This may sound counter-intuitive to some, but I believe the key to surviving the slow times of the business cycle is to keep a focus on profitability. This is primarily for those of you believe you have to accept those $55, $65 or even $75 or $85+ signings. [I'm not talking about the stray miscellaneous stuff we all get offered from time to time.] Cash flow is important, but if your cash flow doesn't provide enough left over, after expenses are paid, for you to live on, it's a recipe for failure - or at least financial loss. And if you're losing money, why are you doing this?
We are ten years from the 'Great Recession' (and the 'Mortgage Meltdown') and there's abundant evidence that we may finally be entering the next inevitable slowdown in the loan business. (And if interest rates continue to rise, that will be a big part of it.) I'm not trying to promote gloom and doom, I'm just repeating warnings that I've made many times here before and trying to encourage everyone to work smart - whatever that means to you in your market, If this is your primary (or sole) source of income, you have to work smart if you want to succeed over the next few years until the cycle swings back up again. And an important part of working smart is taking a long view and having a plan for dealing with whatever might happen.
Got carried away again... Sorry! |
