You are NOT the customer…
I attended a class today about short sales, foreclosures and the like. It is a big part of our market today and I am working to stay up to date in mastermind meetings like this one. It was a collection of agents there to share what they know about the process and help each other so we can do a better job for our clients.
One thought that came out of it was that the person that is paying the mortgage is NOT the customer. Let me explain.
Most of the time the mortgage is paid to a big bank or other financial institution and we are led to believe we are the customer and they are there to help us. The truth is that the probably are only servicing the note. They collect money in only a few circumstances. The payment comes in on time, it comes in late and they get late fees or it does not come in at all and they foreclose per the agreement between the borrower and the lender. That is about it. One other way they get money is to do a short sale and they collect a payment from the federal government for helping to avoid a foreclosure.
All of that leads me to this statement. We are not the customer. The note holder (investor) hired them to service the loan, deal with the problems, handle the day to day issues. For their work they get to keep a slice as the fee and send the rest to the investor. The investor is their customer. The borrower is the ‘debtor’.
That thought just helped me in my understanding of the problems that arise. I have always said you can’t apply logic when dealing with the banks but I am thinking maybe you can if you realize you are not their ‘customer’. You are the debtor. The chicken that lays the eggs (money), so to speak.
It is in the best interest of the farmer to care for the chicken. To feed it, clean its house, give it water and just in general be nice to it. Make it happy and it lays more eggs.
If at some time the eggs stop coming (job loss, reduced income, illness) the farmer might invest a little time and money to help fix the problem but eventually if the eggs do not come it is time to send the chicken to Campbells to become Chicken Noodle Soup (foreclosure) and make room for a new chicken.
Maybe if we think of it like that it makes more sense. I plan to marinate (maybe in a nice Teriyaki sauce) on that idea for a while. If you have a thought about it leave a comment. I would love to hear it.
Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson