Even though we’ve still got work to do, I want to give props to all of the loan officers who have created some noise online about HVCC.
Since our real estate agents are impacted by the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) as well, I’d like to share an example of how loan officers can work with your referral partners to spread the word.
One of my tasks as a full-time mortgage blogger is to syndicate relevant content on other high traffic platforms for the purpose of reaching my target audience online.
Simply spamming the web with links back to my mortgage blog doesn’t always generate the qualified traffic that I need in order to accomplish a specific goal for raising awareness about certain messages.
However, my Las Vegas real estate agents command a much larger reach of home buyers and sellers than I can on my own.
One of my strategies to connect with agents to be seen, heard and appreciated is to post valuable content on their blogs.
How is this a win win?
1. Real estate bloggers need content…. and a lot of it.
2. Mortgage related content about the $8,000 tax credit, FHA appraisal guidelines, and First-Time Homebuyer info is best written by an experienced loan officer.
3. Great content = more visitors = more contacts for the agent.
4. Great mortgage content = a different type of traffic from a more targeted online search. (see Long Tail)
5. By the time the agents are ready to refer the new borrowers over to an LO for qualification, they’re already familiar with you.
How does this apply to HVCC?
I wrote an article on my agent’s blog about the impact HVCC will have on Las Vegas real estate.
Due to the strength of the real estate blog, I was found in the search engines within 24 hours and contacted by a local reporter for a story he was writing about appraisers low balling values.
By luck, his story was featured on Realtor.org and Trulia, as well as several other high traffic news and media platforms.
Since I’ve been writing about HVCC for a month or so now, I was more qualified to write it on the real estate blog than the agent was.
End result:
His team of 150 agents have printed or emailed my article to all of their people.
I even left a comment in the online version of the newspaper’s article with a link back to a follow up post on HVCC that I did which explained my quotes in more detail.
How much business did we get out of it? A bunch, but that wasn’t my primary agenda.
How do you follow this model and find agents to provide HVCC content to?
If you don’t have an agent with a blog, start at www.mybloglog.com and search for local agents. www.whostalkin.com and search.twitter are other great places to start.
If you use Google Reader, then put together a custom folder for all of the agents in your town.
Do you need a mortgage blog to post an article on first?
No. If you don’t have a blog, don’t worry about spending the time setting one up just to show agents that you can write. Instead, put the content together in an email and start looking for agents in your area who will post the content for you.
If you’re looking for an interesting article to write about on your agent’s blogs, listen to this podcast that Tim Davis did with Marc Savitt about HVCC.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the well written article Mark. It blows my mind that they place so many regulations on lenders and agents, but want to give a free pass to appraisers to do as they please without accountability.
Cameron Novak, Realtor
Corona Real Estate Agent
http://www.myagentgateway.com
Great article on how to turn a negative like HVCC and all the terrible things it brings into a positive.
Good article. I have seen the affects of HVCC here in Austin — lost one job due to an appraiser who did not know the area well enough.
Great post on how to diminish the negative like HVCC ,really very value and must read for real estate agents
http://www.kuester.com
HOA Manager Charlotte
Hey Mark…
I thought I's let you and your readers know that I wrote the cover story for July issue of The Niche Report magazine… and it's all about HVCC. The title is: “Cuomo's Crossing – An Outsider's Appraisal of the New HVCC Rules.” You can find it here: http://mandelman.ml-implode.com/2009/07/julys-n...
We appraisers have joined in the fight.
URGENT HVCC UPDATE:
HVCC Continues to devastate home values across the US. We fear that with higher Fannie and Freddie loan limits it will carry through to our former “jumbo” markets, leading the country even further into recession. As we’ve shared, Representatives Childers (D-MS) and Miller (R-CA) introduced legislation (H.R. 3044) requesting an 18 month moratorium on the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC). H.R. 3044 now has 22 co-sponsors and now is the time to forward our petition to every person you know and every representative in the country. Read some of the comments in the petition and you will soon understand the harmful nature of this horribly misguided code.
ThinkBigWorkSmall applauds the introduction of H.R. 3044 and would like to thank Representative Childers (D-MS) and Representative Miller (R-CA) for their continued efforts and leadership on this issue but it is not enough… Tens of thousands of consumers have already been robbed of their opportunity to enjoy historically low rates by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s rule. HVCC needs to be permanently reversed in order to restore lower costs to the consumer and to protect the thousands of real estate transactions stalled by this horribly misguided code.
Please sign and forward the following petition and forward to everyone you know in the industry and ask them to forward to their representatives:
http://www.hvccpetition.com
FHFA Confirms HVCC is doing much better than bad press its receiving.
On July 22, 2009 FHFA released a notice reinforcing the long term role of the HVCC in restoring the real estate market as a whole. In a short but very straight forward letter the agency addressed some very key points about the negative press the HVCC is receiving by the industry. The agency emphasized that the HVCC is not the cause of all the bad press about it but is rather a process that is helping restore the real estate industry as a whole. It addresses key points in respected to the use of AMC's, Increased Cost of closing and turnaround times.
In conclusion they emphasized the “critical role” of the HVCC and how important accurate appraisals and quality appraisers are to the underwriting process.
This comes in at time in which the HVCC is the topic of much controversy and bad press. Although some of the bad press is a legitimate concern the majority of it is the industry lashing out on a major business change as everyone is still going through an adjustment period.
Your article was well written, insightful and food for thought for all of us in the industry. We plan on Tweeting about it as well.
Ruth Ahlbrand
Broker/Owner Re/Max Central of Las Vegas
http://www.LasVegasRelocation.com
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You really done a great job in writing this informative article.. I hope many real estate agent can read this helpful article…
Nice post here. It does make senses, appreciate for sharing.