Time is of the essence, and the best loan officers understand this in such a way that they are ready to act at any and every turn. Carmen Inclan, a vice president at Raymond James Bank in St. Petersburg, Fla., knows that getting to the motivations behind borrower behavior is crucial to keeping their business and providing the best service possible. By maintaining frequent communication with borrowers and partners involved in the loan process, and prioritizing transparency for all potential borrowers, both leads who qualify for a mortgage as well as those who do not, client satisfaction rates rose last year, as did Inclan's production volume.
This is Inclan's
Tell us about your most creative or successful marketing strategy. How did you come up with the idea? What were the results?
Follow up, follow up, follow up. I utilize 10 points of contact during the loan process that keep borrowers and the referral partner updated throughout the various stages. The contact points are executed by me and my team members in a consistent and templated manner. This communication process is non-negotiable. Since its implementation, both borrower and referral partner satisfaction rates increased to 100% satisfaction in every category.
My team and I also focus on being accessible when the clients need us. Everyone is super busy with life, and when a borrower is calling their lender, we understand that something is on their radar and that's when borrowers are the most motivated to provide documentation or answer questions. I personally take every loan application in an effort to avoid potential pitfalls later in the process. Telling a client "yes, you qualify" is important, but telling a lead they are not is equally as important to all involved.
What's unique about the local market that you serve and what do you do to address those needs?
I serve borrowers nationally, and while not unique, accessibility and providing pre-approvals very quickly is critical in all markets. Borrowers are competing with cash buyers daily in every market in the U.S., therefore I follow up with both buyer and listing agents with a phone call after I have provided the pre-approval letter to make sure that I am conveying the strength of the borrower in an effort to help them secure the property.
Too many originators spend their days writing P[re]-Q[ualification] letters and never follow up afterwards. They wait and, in many cases, the buyers get their loans elsewhere. I know this because many prospective borrowers already have a letter from a lender when they are talking with me.
Tell us about an unusual or difficult loan scenario and what you did to ensure a successful closing.
I had a difficult loan file where the borrower had a full Excel spreadsheet of properties owned (but not in an LLC) and getting the loan approved and closed in time to prevent losing a $50,000 earnest money deposit was taking longer than everyone would have liked because we had to reconcile each property, and the carry costs, etc. To complicate matters, the client was attending a conference in Washington, D.C., and then flying to Cuba for a two-week cultural visit. I purchased an airline ticket and traveled to D.C., met the client at her conference, secured a notary, closed the buyer's side of the transaction, and returned the fully executed closing package in time to meet the closing date.
What do you know about the mortgage business now that you wished you knew when you started out?
I started out as a mortgage banker and wish that I had either started out working in a bank with built-in leads or as an assistant to a successful producer so I could learn the business faster and hone my skills. The toughest thing in this business is to source leads with little-to-no experience. Knowing every aspect of the loan process and timing of tasks helps to sell yourself when seeking Realtor business.
Who is someone in your life, either personally or professionally, who helps contribute to your success?
There are many individuals in my life today and in the past who have been generous with their knowledge and guidance, but if I were to narrow it down, there are three who have influenced me to keep pushing and to keep getting better: My parents, Cuban refugees who fled to the U.S. in the early 1960s to escape communism, taught me by example work ethic and to always improve my skills. They worked in factories with very little English to provide the best education that they could afford. The other is my son, Michael, who has autism. He shows me every single day that my working hard is nothing compared to how hard he works just to understand our world and its inconsistencies. I am fortunate that Michael has responded well to the many strategies he's had to face since the age of two, because many individuals with autism are not so fortunate.
