Madison Real Estate - Sales

 How To Become a Hero in the ARM Crisis

At least six million adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) are scheduled for their first reset between 2007 and 2011, according to Dr. Christopher L. Cagan of First American CoreLogic. Millions of consumers who have been able to afford ARMs with low introductory “teaser” rates will be hard pressed to make the new, higher payments they will face. At least 1.1 million of these loans will default over the next six years.

What, if anything, can save consumers from these budget-crushing ARMs? Cue the music. Enter the heroes: Loan Officer and Mortgage Broker.

The technical term for the solution to the ARM crisis is “market remediation”—refinancing through private lenders. This is the only viable option for most ARM customers. “External remediation,” governmental intervention, is a long-shot. The other main option, home sales, is not working well with the sluggish real estate market.

Market remediation is not driven by altruism, of course. There is a lot of money to be made in home loan refinancing. The market is huge. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, $1.5 trillion in ARMs are scheduled to reset alone. This includes all resets, not just first-timers. Many of these consumers have been able to handle the higher payments so far, but they are being stretched to the limit.

The challenge for loan officers and mortgage brokers is to locate, contact, and close these potential customers before anyone else does. It doesn’t take x-ray vision or any other super power to find them. Mortgage brokers and loan officers now can buy detailed ARM leads (also known as ARM refinance mortgage leads) for around $12.50 per lead. These are not the typical public records. These new, bionic ARM leads are strengthened with detailed property and loan information, such as initial reset date, current rate, maximum interest rate, lender name, loan amount, property value, available equity, year built, and number of rooms—right down to number of bedrooms and baths. Most importantly, some companies can guarantee that the leads they provide do not appear on the national Do Not Call Registry.

The new ARM leads do not permit time travel, but they do allow mortgage brokers and loan officers to see as much as 120 days into the future, when the lead will reset. This allows the lead buyer a mailing campaign in advance of the initial phone call. Some companies even offer direct mail templates that can be populated with the lead data to make personalized postcards and letters.

Rising interest rates, stagnant home sales, and fast-approaching ARM reset dates are threatening the financial of millions of Americans. Those who can guide them to safety are poised to make a lot of money. They also are likely to become heroes in the eyes of the families whose homes they save.