Written By: Gail Foster
I read Bonnie’s blog from Monday and just burst out laughing. Bonnie and I have been friends for about six years and have spent many a night sitting across the table with a beer, discussing the mortgage industry. She was an underwriter and then, I was a loan officer. When I had a difficult loan, she was my best friend, giving me input and information that would help me put together a rock solid loan file that would get to the settlement table. But there were other times the discussion would get heated, the voices raised and a very lively “discussion “would ensue. In Monday’s blog’s we were once more on opposite sides of the proverbial table on some of the recent changes in FHA lending guidelines.
As a loan officer, underwriters weren’t my favorite people; it seemed they always killed a deal. We’d put a file together to prove the borrower was worthy and the underwriter would seem to look for ways to prove they weren’t. It was a love hate thing, love ‘em when they approve the file, hate ’em when they find the flaw you missed. Bonnie and I could argue for hours, we knew our stuff and neither of us liked to back down.
Loan officers and Realtors work for the buyer; it’s our job to get the deal done. We know the buyers intention is to repay the loan, they want the house, they’ll find way, they’re wonderful people and right now their eyes are filled with granite counters, Jacuzzi tubs and finished basements. That home is the realization of a dream; it’s the American Way, a status symbol or a building block in a family’s future. They want it, they need it, they have to have it and by George, we’re going to help them get it.
Underwriters work for the bank. It’s an underwriter’s job to make sure the money only goes to those who prove through documentation, equations, ratios, and possibly psychic ability the borrower can and hopefully will repay the funds lent. It’s a business, dollars and cents, bottom lines, profits and dividends. Like it or not, this creates an adversarial relationship.
Truth is, that’s the way it should be. It creates balance on both sides of the table. When I was a loan officer, I used to tell my clients “he who has the money makes the rules”. It helped a borrower to understand that borrowing was a privilege, not a right. And even though I believed that, there were still times I would fight tooth and nail for an exception whenever I could. The rules need to be questioned, challenged, pored over and discussed. The pendulum always swings, but balance is the better path.
With solid lending guidelines, the mortgage industry can grow in confidence, that’s good for America and the economy. But we should also never forget that on the other side of the coin is a home, maybe a family, a dream and a future. Let the discussions, criticism, and disagreements continue so that we never forget it really is about more than dollars and cents.
About the Writer. As an active real estate industry professional for the past twelve years, Gail Foster is a proud licensed mortgage officer and a Realtor in the state of Maryland. . If you would like to become a writer for NAMU®, please email us at:blog@mortgageprocessor.org.
SOURCE: Published by NAMU® Publishing Group, a division of the National Association of Mortgage Underwriters® (http://www.Mortgage-Underwriters.org)
About The Author
Gail Foster - As an active real estate industry professional for the past twelve years, Gail Foster is a proud licensed mortgage officer and a Realtor in the state of Maryland. If you would like to become a writer for NAMU®, please email us at: contact@mortgageprocessor.org.
