Rocket Fuel Newsletter – 01/29/22

This week’s edition has FBI Awards, Rookie of the Year Awards and HGTV hiccups.    

Fuel Up! 🚀

Biz Buzz

• FBI’s Most Wanted – Brokers Gone Bad  
   
  Friday’s CNBC update on the FBI’s most wanted list featured a husband and wife who’ve been off the grid since 2010. 
   
  The mortgage broker couple stole over $1 million from their clients, and the FBI is still offering $10K for info leading to their arrest. 
   
• What’s in a name? 
   
  Diamler AG is rebranding to Mercedes-Benz next week to “unlock value.” 
   
  Porsche is still rumored to be spun off by VW to raise capital to compete with Tesla.  
   
  The packaging is just as important as the contents! 
   
• McRib “Makes The Phones Ring” 
   
  While different promotions and innovations like the McRib and McBaguette draw attention, Mickey D’s is focused on building loyalty through their rewards program. 
   
  McDonalds CEO says the Big Mac, McNuggets and French fries drove 60% of total business. 
   
  As rates go up, many are looking to expand their menu into niche products to generate business. 
   
  Differentiating yourself and standing out are important, but you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just rebrand it.  
   
  People still need places to live and money to buy things.  
   
  Give them a reason to call you.  

Caffeinated Trends With Ryan Schoen, Senior Analyst, Rocket Mortgage ^SM

Housing Supply is still low  

… and is trending lower.  
 
While bidding wars are calming down, we’re not quite back to the luxury of playing House Hunter HGTV-style.

Builders To The Rescue?! 

Not quite.  
 
Not only is it tough to find workers, supply chain issues are leaving new homes without garage doors and gutters.  
 
Normally it takes 6 months to complete a build – now it’s taking longer than a human fetus.  
 
Just 1 in 10 new houses on the market are actually built. 

Even Chip and Joanna are struggling to meet deadlines and budgets and have had to pull their new show “Home Work” from the air on their Magnolia Network just after it launched to avoid bad PR after homeowner allegations.

Partner Spotlight With Scott McMahon, Senior Analyst, Rocket Mortgage

Most major sports leagues award a “Rookie of the Year” award to the top newcomer each year. If the mortgage industry had a similar setup, Rick Bray of Sage Mortgage (a.k.a Forward Mortgage) is certainly deserving of that award for his performance in 2021. 

Rick began receiving leads in March after joining the team in December 2020 and immediately had an impact with his clients. He closed eight loans in April, more than tripled that number in May and by August had nearly reached the 50-closing mark!

“A lot of my success is from the development of my sales skills to respond to clients in the right way,”  
 
“I feel I have a really strong understanding of the sales process and call flow; from there’s simply taking that and plugging it into the mortgage industry.” 
 

Rick has masterfully transitioned his background in telecommunication and aviation sales into success in the mortgage industry – when compared to other Rocket ProSM TPO Partner Loan Officers in their “rookie season,” Rick absolutely dominated his competition. 

“A lot of my success is from the development of my sales skills to respond to clients in the right way,”  
 
“I feel I have a really strong understanding of the sales process and call flow; from there’s simply taking that and plugging it into the mortgage industry.” 
 

Rick has masterfully transitioned his background in telecommunication and aviation sales into success in the mortgage industry – when compared to other Rocket ProSM TPO Partner Loan Officers in their “rookie season,” Rick absolutely dominated his competition. 

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Want to share your story? Reach out to your Account Executive and you could be in a future Partner Spotlight! 

Dialing It Up With Fawaz

Our partners dialing it up with Fawaz in Cleveland at the Cavs game. 

“The two words that stand out to me in the definition of curiosity are strong and learn. To maximize the value of curiosity, you need a strong work ethic. You need a strong desire to continue learning, no matter how much you’ve accomplished.” 

-Gary Vaynerchuk 

In the Weeds, Reads

• Pending Home Sales Slide 3.8% In December 
• Gen Z's Homeownership Dreams Tempered As Affordability Concerns Grow 

• Builder Confidence Edges Lower On Inflation Concerns 
• Annual Existing-Home Sales Hit Highest Mark Since 2006 
• November’s Slowing Home Price Increases: FHFA | CoreLogic 

The Market

Market Movers

• The Fed   
   
• The Fed 
   
• The Fed  
  
  

Running Too Hot – Inflation Or Biden’s Mic? 
 
“Do you think inflation is a political liability in the midterms?” the reporter asked the president as journalists were leaving the room at the end of an event at the White House on Monday. 

Biden responded, “No, it’s a great asset – more inflation. What a stupid son of a &*#^$!”