Posted by BrendaTx on 11/15/07 4:07pm
Msg #221492

NSAs and 8-track tapes...great analogy CJ!

I got a call from a gal up in the Dallas area yesterday. She wanted me to tell her how to get started. Netco had hired someone and sent them to her house for a refi two years ago. I explained to her that the reason she wasn't refinancing again is because the interest rate was now going up, loans were down.

She's thinking about starting this business because friends in NJ are doing it. Well NJ isn't Texas. I directed her to read this board. Told her the best way to get started was to get a job in the lending or legal or title business if she could, learn all she could and then wait for a couple years or so to see if the biz turned around.

Why aren't people thinking about the downturn and loss of business in all parts of the mortgage biz? Zeroing in on ONE single facet of the market with laser focus and not looking at all the things that go into this business is folly if you want to remain a part of this business...but that's what people do.

I'm not putting this lady down...I'm just saying like CJ said...if 8-tracks aren't in demand, it won't matter how low you go on the price, you aren't going to sell any 8-tracks. If the interest rate is up, it won't matter how cheaply you'll do the signings...there won't be any refi signings to do.

You must think outside your own little corner of the world...

Reply by Becca_FL on 11/15/07 4:18pm
Msg #221493

Rarely do I ever disagree with you, Brenda, but interest rates are very good right now and interest rates are not the reason why lending is down. Lending is down because underwriting requirements are so tough. Underwriting requirements are so strict because very few investors are buying loans in the secondary market and the investors want to be sure the mortgages will not default. Investors bet on subprime mortgages and lost. Subprime is gone and Government backed products (HECM, FHA, VA) are in.

Reply by BrendaTx on 11/15/07 4:22pm
Msg #221494

Becca - it's always okay to disagree with me, but I think you are incorrect about the Texas market for NSAs.

HELOCs are not going to keep Texans afloat...too difficult to do because of location requirements.

Refis were what kept us in the biz, in addition to RMs.

No one refis when they have already got a better rate.

Reply by BrendaTx on 11/15/07 4:48pm
Msg #221500

Becca, you had me second guessing myself there for a minute...I went back and looked at interest rates and yes they are up as much as four percent from what they were two years ago which pretty much kills a Texas Refi boom.

The pre-Brenda old timers are always talking about the REFI boom being over...that's pretty much when it ended...when the interest rate went up and over six percent...before subprime started tanking...there's no reason to refi when the rate you have is already 5.0% or 5.5% if you were lucky enough to get those and lower.

The rest of what you posted about investors and subprime is true...I get that...but it was the boom that brought the many, many notaries into this biz as I recall.

I don't see how it doesn't compute that the higher interest rate has created a very sharp decrease in the need for notaries.

'Splain to me Lucy what I am missing here.

Reply by Becca_FL on 11/15/07 5:19pm
Msg #221504

The interest rate today is comparable or even lower than what it was a year ago and I was averaging 35 closings per month. I can tell you that I don't see me hitting that number this year. It's much more than just the interest rates. Here is a cool site I found last spring and pop in every now and then.

http://www.moneycafe.com/library/compare.htm

Reply by Ndwa on 11/15/07 5:46pm
Msg #221507

It doesn't matter what the rate is as there's always someone looking to get a loan. Anyone can get a loan now a day only if they met the tighter UW guidelines. Every bank and lender were on full throttle two years ago and almost all of them hit the brick wall. Their cash (liquid assets) have became tangible (foreclosures) assets.

My guesstimate of the signing volume we have today is about 25% from a year or two ago with less than 5% of NSA fairing well b/c their clients were not hardly affected by the SP implosion.

The signing biz is like a thin thread everyone is trying to hang on. I already made my move and is transitioning into something else.

Reply by BrendaTx on 11/15/07 6:10pm
Msg #221508

Right, Andy...2002 - 2005 were the years to be in the biz.

People were refinancing left and right because they could save so much money. That's where I had my busiess from...as we saw interest rates rise in Texas people ran to refi and then that was pretty much it for us. That was when I started learning how to market and dig into rev morts.

Understanding how the basics of this business work will hopefully keep you from tanking your own business or believing you have to work for signing service fees. I get so many emails requesting rev mort marketing assistance that I have been working diligently to get information together for the partially displaced notary signing agent who feels that they are ready to dig in and learn the RM biz. Check my profile...a new project is half-way finished.

Reply by christiSocal on 11/15/07 7:42pm
Msg #221528

Wow, you never cease to amaze me

Do you ever sleep? I wish you would sell whatever it is that keeps you so energetic! I'd buy a bunch of it... I do appreciate all the work you do and help you give. Thanks!

Reply by MichiganAl on 11/15/07 8:36pm
Msg #221534

If there's anyone that knows R.M.'s, it's you Brenda.

Your current manual was a life saver for me when I first started doing R.M.s. I can't wait to see what's next.

Reply by BrendaTx on 11/15/07 8:51pm
Msg #221537

Re: If there's anyone that knows R.M.'s, it's you Brenda.

Thanks Al and Christi. I appreciate your confidence in me.

Back to writing about marketing...tap, tap, tap, tap...this one is a lot more fun...tap, tap, tap.

Reply by Becca_FL on 11/15/07 9:39pm
Msg #221543

Re: Right, Andy...2002 - 2005 were the years to be in the bi

I doubt we will see business like we did in '04 and '05 ever again in our lifetime. Ahhh...this time in '04 and '05 I was a closing fool. I miss those days. The refis I saw back then were not so much about rate, but more about accessing your equity and using you home as an ATM. Rates really don't have that much to do with it, IMO.

Reply by BrendaTx on 11/15/07 10:03pm
Msg #221549

Texas NSAs cannot survive on helocs...moot point

Becca, you hit the nail on the head--EQUITY LINES. You are from Florida and thinking about equity lines.

I am not. People forget that even lenders don't like to push equity lines here.

Texan NSAs survived on straight, plain refis developed out of the low interest rate during the refi boom.

Equity lines are a whole different animal here. A newby would have a heck of a time getting a law office or a title co. to close in. And it was a newby I was talking to...a newby planning to get into business in Texas.

Refis are nearly completely gone right now. Where is Phillip and JK?...help me out here! We don't have the same market as Florida to work in (in several ways), and yes, the interest rate has affected us (Texans) very significantly.

Reply by BrendaTx on 11/15/07 10:07pm
Msg #221550

Correction: Cash outs and helocs - moot point in Tx.

Getting cash outs and helocs...those have to be closed in a title co., a lender branch or a law office. No easy feat for a newby or a vet unless they have solid connections and for instance, in this town, the title companies and lawyers banned together and said, "sure, we will close the helocs, but NO we won't let notaries we do not know in here to do it." Period. They get $300 for those closings so why should they let a notary in to do it for free?

Reply by JK/TX on 11/15/07 10:24pm
Msg #221553

Re: Texas NSAs cannot survive on helocs...Hey There....

I was on your site just hit the back button.

The HEL's are way down for me right now too. Normally the interest rate is a bit higher so maybe the borrowers are hesitate to cashout.... or w/all the rate and term refi's over the last few years, owners don't have any equity in there home to cashout. HELOC's & RM's , I've only seen a few of them altogether. I guess the brokers that use us just don't work 'em.

As far as closing..... no, we do not offer up the closing rooms. But,,,, you can have the lender call me and I'll sign 'em up!

Reply by BrendaTx on 11/16/07 6:31am
Msg #221580

Re: Texas NSAs cannot survive on helocs...Hey There....

Right JK...Texans have never had the ability to depend on helocs for a good deal of their income unless they had contacts into the title or legal community where they could sign the loans. In most cases, by now, the title and legal community are aware of the money they are missing by not closing these themselves.

Lack of equity is also a problem.

When interest rates were low, I did a huge number of refis. Without the ability to do helocs on demand like other states though, a Texas NSA took a beating when the refi boom was over.

Only certain areas in Texas have seen the growth in equity that is even close to the equity growth (hence, more equity loans taken) in other states. Our values haven't climbed like California and Florida.

Our work began to decline when the refis began to settle down. If you missed '04 and '05, it we sure a good couple of years in the signing business.

Reply by Shelley Weinman on 11/16/07 8:22am
Msg #221593

Texas NSA casualty moving on...

Most of the closings I did in Texas were Helocs (for out of state property, and people were just passing through, or had a second property) and refi's in a title company or branch office of a Lender. I witness signings from July 2004-November 2006.

I went from 15-20 closings per month (March 2006 - June 2006) to 0 in July 2006. I moved to Pitssburgh, PA where I could close any type of loan I wanted in November 2006, and then the bottom really fell out of the business.

I just started working for the Small Business Administration in Herndon, VA as a Loan Specialist Assistant for the National Purchase and Guaranty Center but will get my notary commission here, and wait for better times. For now, I am learning all about the liquidation of loans for the 7a program. I will apply for my commission, CRESPA, etc... early next year.

Meanwhile I still read NR to keep up with the industry.

Reply by BrendaTx on 11/16/07 8:30am
Msg #221596

Hey Shelley, so nice to see you! n/m

Reply by Phillip/TX on 11/16/07 10:18am
Msg #221611

Re: Texas NSAs cannot survive on helocs...Hey There....

Brenda, I have 2 title companies in my area, I have arraignments with one... they will allow me to use their rooms, if they do not have a meeting scheduled... but I have to pay for the room!!! So there in itself is a higher fee.

As far as an attorney in this here part of the country allowing me to use one of their rooms... I have never asked. But I am sure they would want to be a part of it, or want to do it as you say.

The refi business in East Texas is pretty dry right now. I have been doing refi's for properties in other states, where the borrowers are in my area, but it has been at least 2 months where I have done a refi for a Texas property. I have two closings schedule for this weekend, one is a RM and the other is refi.

My point is that Texas is a "Nation" in and of itself... we have different laws and regulations here that restrict our (SA) duties and the ability for us to make a living. With that said, the interest rate today... is not all that grand in Texas... we have seen much lower and better rates, and the market has been better all the way around. There are properties here in my area that have been on the market for months, some for couple years, that cannot sell, due to the economy, the oil and gas operations in this area have quadrupled in the last year... but that money is being made by the oil and gas companies, not by the working man. So that has cut the refi business... and true the underwriting guidelines are much harder to compete with as well.