Rocket Fuel Newsletter – 02/26/22
This week’s edition has record home price growth, record cash-out interest and tips to scale your business.
Fuel Up! 🚀
Biz Buzz
Home prices post biggest calendar year of growth than in the 34 years of the Case-Shiller national home price index, at 18.8%.
FHFA’s report showed similar growth and highlighted Arizona, Utah and Idaho as the top three growth states – you can go from Mexico to Canada using only those states.
Caffeinated Trends
Did you know Google lets you explore the popularity or “interest” for search terms over time?
Check out these real estate terms:
“Mortgage” as a search term is still just half as “interesting” as in 2008, even though it got close at the beginning of the pandemic.
“Refinance” interest has followed a similar trend as “toilet paper.”
Interest in “Houses” continues to grow and shrink annually, but has trended notably higher since 2014.
“Cash Out” has never been more interesting!
Partner Spotlight With Scott McMahon, Senior Analyst – Rocket Mortgage®
Maria Tang, Owner, Family First Mortgage Group
Favorite things about Rocket:
- Pricing calculator
- Account Executive Sarah Stockman’s guidance and support
- Competitive pricing
Coffee/tea preference: Both!
First job: Mom of three kids
Interest rate on your first written loan: I think about 4.25%
If you could teach a Masterclass, what would the topic be: How to capitalize on your community and become a successful loan officer!
How do you scale a brokerage while keeping your loans squeaky-clean?
With only five others on her team, Maria and Family First have grown their business to be an efficient mortgage origination powerhouse.
Since mid-2020, Maria and her team’s production with Rocket Pro TPO has skyrocketed (pun intended) to heights of more than 200 registrations in a quarter. While others may find it difficult to manage such a large, expanding pipeline, Family First has kept their registration-to-close conversion rate remarkably high as they’ve scaled.
Maria’s advice is simple:
“Go over the file in detail before you submit it, ask questions before submission…, [and] work with lenders that will be there for you the way you will be there for your clients.”
Why is a strong conversion rate with your lenders important? Aside from it meaning more closed loans for you, it also impacts both the client experience and the overall partnership with the lender.
Client Experience
Maria and her team’s attention to cleanliness gives their clients the peace of mind that their loans will ultimately reach the closing table, and will also do so quickly.
In fact, for refinance loans in 2021 (the majority of their business), Family First Mortgage Group’s average time from registration to scheduled closing was just 23 days, putting them in the top 20% of all Rocket Pro TPO partners with at least 20 refi closings last year.
Lender Partnership
In order for brokers to get the most out of their partnership with Rocket Pro TPO, Maria points out that she sees her partnership as a two-way street:
“Make suggestions and send feedback to your Account Executive to help Rocket improve the process for us brokers!”
In the end, maintaining quality while scaling your business all comes down to trusting the process and respecting the lender-broker relationship.
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Want to share your story? Reach out to your Account Executive and you could be in a future Partner Spotlight!
What The Pros Are Reading
Pro Puzzles
Last week’s best time was just 23 seconds, and the average solve time was 3 minutes, 12 seconds!
Who will win this week?
Click here to solve this week’s crossword. Good luck!
