Interest rates storm – what to do

The changing landscape elevates one to the role of trusted advisor, she said. “So if you’re telling them ‘I know it sucks rates are up right now, but the second rates go down I’m gonna call you, and we’re going to take care of this again.’ That’s continuing to build your pipeline; you’re looking at your future pipeline now. It’s really all about mindset. Rates are high; inventory’s low. If you let those excuses take over your business, then, yeah, you are probably going to fail. But if you let those just be components on giving new ideas on how to expand in different ways then you’re still going to grow, you’re still going to be successful.”

Andy Price, broker owner with Price Mortgage, echoed those sentiments. The key is to foster existing relationships amid uncharted paths. “I think it’s really important for us to stay in touch with our clients – the ones we’ve already helped,” he said. “A lot of those people might do cash out or they had a lower credit score at the time and now it’s higher. So, there’s going to be opportunities to help them get rid of mortgage insurance.”

Like Welch, Price also isn’t fixated on the rising rates as anathema to doing business: “Even though rates are higher, they’re still good,” he said. “I mean they’re a lot better than they’ve very been other than our last little run. What we should’ve been doing – and hopefully most were – is focusing on that purchase business. So yeah, they [interest rates] are up, and people are getting used to that. There’s still value there. It’s important to educate and show them if it’s a refinance why it would make sense, why it doesn’t or if it’s better to wait.”

Ramon Von Walker, president and CEO at Educate Mortgage, espouses the virtues of getting creative. “I think you have to be innovative,” he told MPA. “When the loans aren’t falling off the trees and you’re picking them off the ground, it makes for a different toolset in order to get in that tree and pick some loans up. So, the biggest thing individuals are going to have to do – some for the first time – is take a serious look at their business and take a look at what their niche is, what their identity is, what value they’re going to bring to the consumer and get extremely serious about developing a business plan and model that allows them still to get consumers. Because it’s a battle is basically what is it – you can call it a sport, or a battle or a war, whatever term or analogy you want to use – but at the end of the day, the pie has shrunk, and there’s going to be fewer people in it. But it’s still going to be extremely competitive.”