Thursday, June 4, 2009

Marketing Tips for Mortgage Brokers of FHA Streamline Refinances

The best way to market FHA streamline refinances is to make a client understand what he stands to gain by taking it as well as what he could lose if he opts for another kind of loan.

What is FHA Streamline Refinancing
The best way to think of FHA streamline refinancing is as a shortcut to taking out a better mortgage overall. People who qualify for a FHA streamline refinance loan can get their current interest rate lowered right away and usually without even having their home subjected to a lengthy appraisal first. With FHA streamline refinancing, clients will also have lesser paperwork to deal with, something that many clients have reason to be thankful of.

In explaining what FHA streamline refinancing is to your client, try retracing the steps for taking out a mortgage. Highlight the tasks that are not just time-consuming but costly as well, tasks that will be immediately removed from the equation if they pass for FHA streamline refinancing.

Who Can Apply for FHA Streamline Refinancing
Unfortunately, not everyone is qualified to obtain FHA streamline refinancing. Firstly, the client's original or first home loan must have been provided by the FHA. In view of this, you should take the initiative of contacting old clients whom you've helped secure a FHA loan on their homes. They might not know they're in need of FHA streamline refinancing or what they stand to gain from it, but thankfully, you're here to enlighten them.

Another requirement is that your FHA loan must be of good standing. Your payment history should only reflective positive behavior from you.

How Can People Benefit from FHA Streamline Refinancing
One thing you should let your clients know is that FHA streamline refinancing doesn't offer them a cash-back option. Simply put, FHA streamline refinancing is only used to help them reduce their monthly interest expenses. From there, clients will be able to receive extra money and put it to better use.

You have to make this clear to your clients as FHA streamline refinancing is truly not ideal for all mortgage takers. If you believe that a client is in greater need of a cash-out refinancing loan rather than streamline refinancing, it is your responsibility to steer your client to the right direction.

Having an original home loan that is an FHA loan with a good status is a must to qualify for a streamlined refinance. Also, the payments of your monthly interest must be lowered by the refinance. Although there is no option to receive cash back, it's good to know that this refinancing option can reduce your monthly expenses. If you are someone with a good financial standing and you don't have any significant debt, this will work well for you as it allows you to get some monthly extra money that you can use on other ventures.

To end on a lighter note, those who do qualify for and will benefit from FHA streamline refinancing can also look forward to include closing costs in the total loan amount of FHA streamline refinance.

The Final Marketing Touches for FHA Streamline Refinancing
FHA streamline refinancing is ideal for people with little need for a huge amount of money but can benefit greatly from lowered monthly expenses. As a mortgage broker, it's your job to make them see what you're seeing. Do that and it's impossible for any of your clients to refuse taking out a FA streamline refinance loan!

About the Author

Scott Tucker tells you more on his free audio CD, free e-book, free faxed report, & free telephone seminar, all available for the asking, at www.MortgageMarketingGenius.com/newsletter

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Monday, June 1, 2009

4 Reasons Traditional Advertising Doesnt Work for Law Firm Marketing

One thing is certain: if your law firm is going to continue to grow, it must grow its client base as well. Clients come and clients go but not all clients come back again. As a rule of thumb, people try to avoid putting themselves in situations that even require an attorney. Most repeat clients only need your services on a spatial basis and that is not enough work to create the growth you want. This is the reason you have implemented your law firm marketing program; to accommodate this growth required in your client base.

Is the law firm marketing program you are currently following filling that void adequately? Chances are, not as well as you would like. The question is why is not producing like you had hoped? Does this frustration seem all too familiar to you? If so, you are not alone. The growing pains of expanding any law practice go with the territory. Now you must decide where to go from here. If your law firm marking plan is based on a traditional advertising model, that may be a large part of the problem you are experiencing. This type of advertising simply doesn't work well for law firm marketing.

Traditional advertising as a law firm marketing plan drains your budget, costs many hours of time and leaves your waiting room virtually empty. Does this frustration seem all too familiar to you? If so, you are not alone. The growing pains of expanding any law practice go with the territory. Now you must decide where to go from here.

Successful marketing requires diligence, patience and some good old-fashioned creativity in order to turn prospects into clients. For this reason, you must first determine who are your most likely clients and determine the best way to reach them.

Legal clients are seeking a trained professional who can learn the facts, present them to others and convince the offending party that their clients deserve what is being asked of them. Legal clients are not the same as those targeted by a car salesman or an insurance company. Legal clients have specific needs that can only be met by your law firm.

Here are four reasons why regular advertising methods don't work for you and what you can do to change it:

1. In many cases, the owner of the law firm who placed the ad ends the campaign too early. Advertisements take a long time to produce noticeable results. If you have only just begun to advertise your legal services, you cannot expect clients to come knocking at your door after the first week or two. Until they begin seeing your marketing efforts
consistently, they have no idea that you even exist.

2. It is vital that you find ways to measure and compare the results of your law firm marketing efforts. Paying no attention to how your marketing efforts are working for you is just a waste of your time and money. You must test campaigns against each other to discover which ones work well and which ones you should abandon. Unfortunately, results from advertising are notoriously difficult to measure. Therefore due diligence is required to separate the seed from the chaff. This goes for the actual determining of who will be a good prospective client and who is just a bad prospect.

3. Often, the downfall of an advertisement is that it misses its purpose. This purpose is to create a desire within your target market to buy your product or service over and over again. It is not to make people laugh, win awards, use special effects or to be clever.

4. Many companies tend to advertise only when they are desperate for new clients. Your law firm marketing has already fallen short of its mark if you have reached the point where you need new clients in order to stay afloat. The best time to advertise and reach more target markets is when you really don't need them. When you are at the top of your game and have a case back-log, this is when you would do well to seek additional clients.

A lawyer who shows genuine interest and concern for a client's needs and is willing to work them into a busy schedule is much more likely to win over a new client than one who is barely treading water and has no cases in the works. A quiet office, an empty calendar and no phones ringing tell prospective clients that you aren't busy because you aren't that good.

The best way to continue putting forward your best efforts in the realm of successful law firm marketing is to ask yourself this question: If you were looking for a good, skilled and reputable lawyer, where would you begin looking? Think long and hard about the answers that first come to mind. These are likely the places most people seeking legal counsel would go to first; that is where your marketing efforts must also be prominent.

About the Author

Stephen Fairley is CEO of The Rainmaker Institute is the nation's largest law firm marketing company that specializes in helping small law firms generate more and better referrals and create a 7 figure law practice. Over 6,000 attorneys have benefited from our proven Rainmaker Marketing System. Attorneys: claim your FREE legal marketing CD '7 Keys to a 7 Figure Law Practice' at www.toplawfirmmarketingtips.com

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