LAS VEGAS — The nation's realtors are getting extra attention from the mortgage departments of credit unions. Evidence of that surfaced at this year's conference of the American Credit Union Mortgage Association.
For one thing, a featured speaker on the Las Vegas program last week was Richard Sands, executive director of a training unit for Coldwell Banker who presented a thumbnail guide on understanding the mindset and sales psyche of the typical realtor.
Among cogent facts for CUs to know: the average realtor is 52, he or she has been in the business 14 years, nearly two-thirds are women, 30% of realtors do four transactions a year and the average broker makes $52,000.
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Echoing other speakers at the ACUMA conference, Sands of Denver told the 200 conferees there are "incredible opportunities" for CUs in the mortgage field working with realtors, but in many cases "they are not in the flow."
In a separate talk, but apparently related to Sands' remarks, Robert Dorsa, president/CEO of ACUMA, revealed plans for a special "America's Credit Unions" exhibit at next month's National Association of Realtors Conference and Expo in New Orleans.
"This is a convention that draws 25,000 realtors and though we will be among 500 exhibitors, we feel this is a setting where we can get out our message," said Dorsa as he stepped up a solicitation drive among CUs to help defray the costs of the $50,000 exhibit and the giveaway of CDs promoting CUs.
The DVDs, he said, will be handed out to realtors at the New Orleans conference in exchange for their business card as booth staffers "ask them about their membership in credit unions."
ACUMA has been exhibiting at the NAR conference for three years on a smaller scale, he said, but this year the 300-member trade group decided the New Orleans meeting Nov. 10-13 was ripe for greater CU penetration.
ACUMA delegates were reminded to drop their checks in a kitty bowl and by mid-week $25,000 had been collected. Mentioning other national groups beside NAR where CUs need to focus, Dorsa said the Mortgage Bankers Association of America "have about given up on us" based on low mortgage volume of CUs. There was no formal MBAA representation at the Las Vegas meeting, he said. In his speech outlining ways CUs can cement ties with realtors, Sands suggested mortgage execs get more education on pricing techniques including "absorption rate pricing" in which the length of time for home closings in specific locales are measured. Such criteria are helpful, he said, in determining loan amounts "as measured in supply and demand" Another speaker at the ACUMA conference, Guy Messick, general counsel for the National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations, urged CUs take a closer look at offering title insurance as a means of increasing income and adding value to mortgage services provided members.
In offering the product, CUs need be cautious in lining up a single carrier as well as following HUD rules under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. He said the insurance services can be successfully offered "without incurring the wrath of HUD" under RESPA. –[email protected]
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