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Debbie Bloyd is a contributing author to Weekly Real Estate News and can be contacted at 469-768-0337 or  [email protected]

Brokers are better than banks because we have more options.  Brokers are better than banks because we have a vested interest in our clients.  Now before you say you work with great bankers – there are a few great ones out there.  You should know I have been a banker too and I really do prefer being a broker!  I have options – lots of options that banks don’t.

If you are a newer agent, you might not know the difference, heck clients don’t even know the difference.  So why is this so important?  With brokers come options and options give people a choice to see what is out there in the world to choose from with their largest investment.  There are so many types of programs available today and there are more coming out every month.  You don’t want someone not to buy just because they don’t know how.

It used to be back in the early 2000’s, there were no doc loans, low doc loans and stated loans right alongside the regular 30-year loans and everyone did everything.  The lenders were not licensed, and it was more like the wild, wild west.  I had signed up with many, many companies and I had a rolodex full of reps at all these companies to call and ask questions about all types of scenarios.  Then 2008 came and we all got licensed.  There were a lot of lender closings and failures.  It seemed that the only ones not harmed were banks but then they had their own issues.

Clients became leery of all the lenders, banks, and everyone.  So, we had to start again with education to our clients and it was hard.  So much bad press everywhere.  I did not like the stories and lying about the business, but someone had to take the fall and the mortgage lenders did in a big way, but we were just selling the loans that were legal and all that changed.  We were starting over with full doc loans again and that was fine.

Moving to today, loans of all types are back out there again.  They have changed a little bit with more documentation but there are still ways around the traditional tax return loans.  I do all types of loans and the landscape is ever changing.  There is no way for a real estate agent to know all the ways we can lend, and they don’t have to if they have a good lender partner.  I don’t like it when my agents do my job of trying to tell clients what they qualify for, they don’t know the ins and outs and that often gets us all in trouble.

The best advice I have – get a good lender partner that is a broker and go to lunch.  Talk about all the ways that they can help you understand the options, put together flyers and educate both you and your clients.  I love helping my agents with the numbers – they find the houses – I do the numbers.  We each have a role and don’t overstep.  A banker will tell you no while a broker will tell you all the options out there.  There are so many ways to get approved – hard money, asset depletion loans, alt a loans,  bank statement loans, rental income loans – the list is growing every day.

Find yourself a good broker and you will get more deals done faster!

This article is an overview for a general educational purpose only.  The information presented should not be relied upon without the advice of counsel.

Debbie Bloyd is a contributing author to Weekly Real Estate News.  She can be contacted at 469-768-0337 or  [email protected]