In the immortal words of the recently late Jerry Reed, “When you’re hot, you’re hot. When you’re not, you’re not.” Life is about streaks. Living in the Chicago area, I’m a life-long Cubs fan. To anyone who doesn’t follow baseball, the Cubs last won the World Series 100 years ago, and I can count on one hand the number of times they’ve been in the playoffs in my life time. But this year has been different. They’ve had that winning swagger and they go into games expecting to win. At this point in the season they’ve compiled the best record in baseball. Only now, as we head into the home stretch, they’ve lost four games in a row. I’m not sure what the players are thinking, but as a fan I’m fighting that ‘here we go again’ vibe - get our hopes up only to dash them on the hard rocks of reality. I think it’s going to turn out differently this time, though. It’s hard to be up all the time. Over the course of a long season there are going to be low points. What matters is how they respond under pressure, and if they keep on doing the things that got them here, they’ll be fine and we’ll be celebrating in October.
The same thinking applies in the mortgage business. When things are going well you feel unbeatable. Business comes in easily and it seems like you can do no wrong. When business is good we get that same winning swagger. We expect things to go well, because they have been going well. But again, when your hot you’re hot, when you’re not you’re not. What happens when you hit those inevitable down streaks? The whole industry has been in one over the last year. Loan originations are down and it looks like it’s going to be a while before we turn the corner. The loans we get are harder to do now with tighter underwriting guidelines, low appraisals and road blocks at every turn. In times like this, the right attitude makes all the difference. Make that the right attitude and a commitment to do what’s necessary to turn the bad streak around.
Are you still keeping in regular contact with your past clients and referral sources?
Are you becoming the expert and letting everyone know about how the changes in the mortgage market affect them?
Are you budgeting extra money for marketing, or are you cutting back?
Are you keeping up with all the changes in the industry and adapting to what you can do in the current market?
Are you trying anything new?
When business is down it is too easy to pull back. It’s easy to rationalize that the market is bad and there is nothing you can do about it, so you might as well do nothing. But the true winners keep the winning attitude and know they will be around for the long run. And I do expect to celebrate in October.
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