We owe the MBA of New Jersey a huge THANK YOU! In March we attended the 26th Annual Regional Conference of Mortgage Bankers Associations as a vendor. It was held at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This was the show to be at for 2009. Not only did we share in the optimism with the large crowd of attendees, but the venue had an air of ?anything goes? ? one moment you?d be talking to new faces about their passion for the industry and the next moment you?re at a 24/7 bistro eating buckets of hot wings with new found friends at 4:00am ? this conference was proof that time flies by when you?re having fun. On another note, I mentioned in last month?s issue that I felt many mortgage brokers were making a transition into being bankers to remain competitive and relevant. Richard Russell wrote to us with a poignant description of how and why the broker is important and serves as an excellent reminder of the noble work performed by mortgage brokers ? read below for Richard?s ?Letter to the Editor?: Keep up the fight, Robert Pegg Letter to the Editor Mortgage brokering is an industry of small entrepreneurs who are helping friends and family live the American dream of owning real estate. For decades, brokers have filled the voids left by banks by bringing the money to the people. In the past, if a person wanted to buy a home, they went to a bank during banker?s hours and sat in a lobby hoping to see the vice president of lending. If they weren?t there, they were sent away and told to come back after making an appointment, or they were told to come back after they found a house so the bank could work with real figures. The potential buyer then would spend months looking at homes, fall in love with a home, make an offer, get it accepted and then proceed to the bank with much excitement. The banker would then tell that person he couldn?t afford the home due to his credit history, tax returns or lack of down payment. Brokers became the advocate for these buyers by opening up the closed society of banking to the public. Brokers met with the buyers after banker?s hours. They talked in common vernacular, explaining how to work the system to fit their situation. Brokers had the brilliant idea to figure out how much buyers could afford to pay before they would go out looking for a home. Brokers decided to save everyone the time and embarrassment and review credit reports, income and assets before a real estate agent or builder wasted any time with a potential customer. This proactive, deal-making attitude endeared local brokers to their local real estate agent/building partners. Brokers brought a value to all; the customer had an advocate putting them into the home of their dreams in a way a banker couldn?t, and in the end, the banker/investor got an asset for their books with no hassle. Before our memory fades, we need to see how the scrappy kid from the Bronx, Angelo the once President of Countrywide, assembled other scrappy, hungry kids from state colleges and built a great company doing all the things that those blessed with better educations and family bank accounts didn?t want to do. As the banks now became filled with confidence, the solid brokers remaining, like my company, The Richland Group need to remember Angelo?s lessons and find those areas where banks arrogance prevents them from succeeding and fill that need. All the pending and final legislation pertaining to this industry has served a good purpose of weeding out those bankers and brokers who never understood their purpose in this business to begin with. We did. We are here to stay and sctively involved in the local governmental pursuit of this endeavor. Richard Russell Richland Equity Resources Corp
