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With refinances seemingly having run their course and a shortage of homes for sale, the forecast for mortgage lending is not so good.
A recent lender survey by Fannie Mae revealed that it’s no surprise that many lenders are pessimistic about profit margins. They believe there will be continued consolidation of lenders with major competition among those who remain, compounded by disruption from new, emerging players. Translation: More competition for a larger piece of a shrinking pie.
Interestingly, most indicated that to remain competitive they need to concentrate more on streamlining their operations to reduce costs and invest more in human capital to improve the customer experience. At this point, few lenders see the value of additional investment in data analytics to drive business.
According to Doug Duncan, Fannie’s Chief Economist, consumers are now looking for and expecting a seamless end to end, transparent solution.
The irony is that to attain such a solution, lenders need the data analytics and business intelligence to identify what consumers want and how they want it delivered.
Lenders cannot rely on past “tried and true” methods for obtaining new business and servicing new customers. Is not that times are changing; it’s that they’ve already changed. Lenders need to change as well.
Like it or not, technology is the name of the game. Technology that helps a lender identify new opportunities based on consumer likes and wants and technology that can help deliver what’s expected expediently and efficiently.
Lenders need to be where the consumers are shopping, that means you have to be online and offering what they are looking want.
I am not talking about just rates but information, education, guidance, assistance, the whole ball of wax. All of this must be presented and delivered in a way that is convenient, easy to use, and understandable.
If you keep doing what you’ve been doing to get and service business you may not keep getting what you got in the past.
It’s time to take a long hard look at your business model to determine what changes are needed and how you’re going to go about making those changes.
There are no shortcuts to success (unless you’re the woman who hit the Power Ball Lottery recently). It takes a solid business plan and a whole bunch of hard work and dedication.
How do you plan to get there?
