All too often, mortgage originators rely on corporate training departments to educate them on the industry. Loan officers read sanitized bulletins about products that have been carefully vetted through product committees. They receive extremely limited market information from their secondary marketing departments and oftentimes don’t hear about regulatory changes until they filter through to updated policies and procedures.
In this day and age, that’s not good enough. Thanks to the internet, consumers are more informed than ever, and in order to remain competitive, loan officers need to educate themselves in order to be the industry expert that the customer expects them to be. Here, we’ve compiled five free resources to keep any loan officer firing on all cylinders.
1. Lykken on Lending Podcast
I know what you’re thinking, listening to a radio show about mortgage lending sounds about as interesting as watching paint dry, but give David Lykken’s podcast one listen and you’ll be a subscriber for life. Dave’s weekly show is filled with industry updates, expert guests and up and coming technology companies. The best part is that you can listen whenever it’s convenient, and there’s hundreds of past episodes to listen to. Look up “Lykken of Lending” on the iPhone Podcasts App and subscribe, or click this link:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lykkenonlending
2. IMF Newsletter
There’s a lot of garbage that finds its way to my inbox, but the daily news from Inside Mortgage Finance gets opened every single day. It takes just a few minutes to digest, and the content is extremely relevant to every loan originator. It’s the one outlet that seems to do a great job of filtering out the noise and delivering quality content. There’s paid content on the site as well, but the free daily newsletter is perfect for your daily dose of industry specific news. Subscribe here:
http://www.insidemortgagefinance.com/IMFnews_Alerts/
3. MGIC Connects
MGIC has done a phenomenal job of channeling their industry knowledge into more than just private mortgage insurance. Through their MGIC Connects blog, you’re given access to excellent content from across the entire mortgage industry. MGIC also provides some excellent webinars to help you with everything from marketing to underwriting which go well beyond what you’re used to with your corporate training department. Get informed by following MGIC’s Ben Smidt on Twitter @bensmidt and subscribe to the blog here:
https://mgic-connects.com/subscribe/
4. eFannieMae.com
Fannie Mae’s website is an amazing treasure trove of information. You can learn about almost any facet of the mortgage process, from origination through servicing, all written for the mortgage professional. There’s also plenty of webinars you can sign up for to learn about subjects that you might not deal with on a daily basis. Block off an hour per week to learn something new that you ordinarily wouldn’t explore. Get started by signing up for their Single Family email updates here:
https://www.fanniemae.com/s/profile/notification
5. HousingWire
If there was one publication you needed to survive as a mortgage professional, it would hands down be HousingWire. Covering all corners of the real estate finance industry, HousingWire is a must read. If you were looking for a resource for content to share, HousingWire provides both in depth and easy to read articles that are digestible for people outside of the industry. Our favorite contributors are Ben Lane @BenLaneHW and Brena Swanson @BrenaSwanson so follow them on Twitter then subscribe to the HousingWire email newsletter here:
Patrick O’Brien is a mortgage banker turned software entrepreneur at LenderLogix. With QuickQual by LenderLogix, your borrowers and Realtors can issue their own pre-qualification and pre-approval letters. Intrigued? Learn more now.