COMMENTARY

By Ken Harthausen
By Ken Harthausen

Now?s the Time for the ?Right Stuff?

In many areas of the country, the housing market has returned to a more normal, balanced market, as measured by historical standards. Without the near manic conditions that saw homes sell in a matter of hours as opposed to weeks, realty firms and real estate professionals seeking to grow their business now have the time to look for ways to seize competitive advantages. It can be a great time to consider a joint venture with a lender as a means of seizing that advantage.

For realty firms, the business case for entering into a joint venture with a lender is as strong as ever. The trend toward integrating core services in real estate transactions proceeds apace, and home buyers continue to express interest in one-stop shopping.

A firm may benefit from participating in a joint venture because an alliance with a lender can:

Provide the realty company with a new source of revenue

Help the company grow by offering the convenience of an easy, one-stop home-buying experience

Result in enhanced customer

satisfaction

Participate in an innovative business structure that is easy to implement and requires far less capital than a wholly owned, in-house mortgage banking entity.

In a nutshell, the realty firm gains the advantages of a lender’s operational and technological expertise, and the ability to process and fund home loans at a low cost, while also benefiting from the lender’s product menu, distribution capabilities and marketing and sales support?all of which help buyer’s agents and listing agents make those sales.

There is another benefit of forming a joint venture with a mortgage company that realty firms may want to consider: satisfaction and productivity. Every real estate professional has stories, such as eleventh-hour surprises when a buyer’s funding is not approved or delays at the closing table. With a mortgage company joint venture partner with the ?right stuff,? these stories of lost transactions can virtually disappear.

You can tell whether a lender has the ?right stuff? to consistently close the highest percentage of transactions by asking the potential joint venture partner the following:

Does the lender have the ability to close almost all loans?

Does the lender give borrowers every opportunity to qualify for funding?

Once you’ve heard from the lender and reviewed their proposal, it’s a good idea to do some research of your own to find confirmation that a lender has a strong track record for delivering on agents? needs.

One current resource is the report, ?How Real Estate Agents Work With Mortgage Providers,? an April 2006 publication presenting results from a survey of real estate agents sponsored by Inside Mortgage Finance Publica-tions, Inc. and conducted by Campbell Communications, Inc. The report presents rankings of the lenders that agents most preferred to use for a variety of home-buyer situations. Other good resources for strategic research on lenders? capabilities and performance results are mortgage industry trade publications.

As balance between buyers and sellers returns to the housing market, agents and realty firms must maintain strong relationships with the goal of helping to ensure that virtually any home buyer can receive funding. A joint venture with a reliable, responsible mortgage lender is an excellent form for a relationship to take. At Countrywide, we strive to be an ideal lender and joint-venture partner. We are determined to bring the ?right stuff? to our partnerships. RE

Ken Harthausen is managing director, Strategic Business Alliances for Countrywide Home Loans. For more information about Countrywide?s Strategic Business Alliances, call 800-401-3402.

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